I’ve been thinking about this topic long before I ever considered writing about it. Like everyone else, or at least most of us I hope, I enjoyed my World Cup. I was privileged enough to have tickets to quite a few games, in three different cities no less, and even had the audacity to give my last ticket to my sister, who probably knows as much about football as I do about pottery. But it was my greatly anticipated trip to Bloemfontein to watch my country play against France in their last game of the 2010 World Cup which excited me most, for obvious reasons of course, but also for one I had not anticipated; one which inspired me to write.

It’s been well documented that Bafana Bafana games are almost always played in either Gauteng or Bloemfontein. PSL side Bloemfontein Celtic boasts the title of most supported club outside the two Gauteng-based juggernauts of Soweto, the Orlando Pirates and Kaiser Chiefs. No surprise then that all three South African group games went to exactly those two areas, Gauteng and Bloemfontein.

As a Capetonian, I’ve always been a little bit confused, and at times, felt a bit cheated that Cape Town never gets to see its country play. We’ve hosted the likes of Manchester United and Tottenham Hotspur at Newlands Stadium in the past. Why then do we never get to see our own country play in our own city?

What greeted me inside the stadium in Bloemfontein that day gave me a bit of an answer. When it comes to the faithful (and, evidently, crazy) support for both local and national sports teams, there’s no better place to be than Free State Stadium, and no better example of how to care for your teams. It’s a city where sports and the stadium are at the heart of all activity. From their famous "heppi" chant, to that thing they all do with their vuvuzelas (I don’t know if it has a name, but it should definitely catch on), to one of my favourites, "Shosholoza", it’s easy to see now why Free State stadium is often given our national games.

Yet none of this I realised while I was there. I was too busy soaking it in and enjoying my time as a South African. It was only two days later, when I found myself back at Cape Town Stadium to watch Cameroon play the Netherlands that I realised what the problem in Cape Town may be. And the differences could not have been more contrasting.

We live in the best city in the country; we have the best attractions, scenery, beaches, Long Street, and the fan walk. Yet when it came to impressing most, inside our own world-class stadium, I felt significantly underwhelmed that day. Yes, I know it was a Bafana game I had watched in Bloemfontein, so naturally everything would’ve been grander. But it wasn’t the volume or the lack of noise inside Green Point I was worried about. It was something more than that; it was the evident lack of a stadium culture. Don’t get me wrong, Cape Town Stadium’s atmosphere was good at times, especially if it was your first time or it’s the only stadium you had visited. But ultimately it lacked something – some substance, some point beyond just the arbitrary blowing of a vuvuzela at random points in a match.

Our stadium was new, but that’s no reason for it not to feel like a home to anyone. It was almost as if Capetonians weren’t used to watching live football matches in Cape Town. Ironically, I don’t think that’s too far from the truth. That is the problem, I believe. Historically, Capetonians simply have not cared enough about local football, and I include myself in that statement.

One only has to see the latest voting results for the Telkom Charity Cup to see where Cape Town teams feature on the support list (at one point Ajax Cape Town was at 53 votes when Kaiser Chiefs was nearing 6000). And it’s a little more than coincidence that the most supported club team in South Africa outside of Soweto also consistently gets to watch the boys play at Free State Stadium.

For some, it’s more than just an indifferent attitude too. I know people who refuse to support local football simply because it can, at times, fall short of the level of other overseas leagues. The rest of us, including myself, have simply let the idea of local football whither in the background as we prefer to kick back on the couch and take in the Barclays Premier League. As a Capetonian I’ve always wondered why we never get to see our country play live. That day at Cape Town Stadium showed me that we need to do more to deserve it; we need to earn it.

So we as Capetonians now have a duty to correct that. We’ve been given a fresh start, with a beautiful new stadium, a stadium that deserves to be made into a home. For the first time in the PSL we have three local teams participating in South Africa’s top tier in Ajax Cape Town, Santos, and the newly promoted Vasco Da Gama. So why should we suffer on support? Let Greenpoint be the new place to be "heppi".

For all of you who were happy to say "I was there" during this past month, good on you; that is what it was all about. But something just as important as that is a continuation of that idea, to turn "I was there" into "I’m going to be there" – to create a lasting legacy for local football in our city. A change in Cape Town’s attitude towards local football may yet bring the boys back to the Mother City one day soon. And there’s no excuse anymore. So next month, on 27 August, when Ajax Cape Town host Bloemfontein Celtic as they kick-off the new PSL season at our very own Cape Town Stadium, I will be there. I hope you will be there too.