Writing this from Barcelona, Spain means I’ve had the chance to experience the Spanish coastal city for most of this week.

FC Barcelona were playing Atletico Madrid on Sunday evening, and besides pretty much nothing being open, everywhere you looked people were wearing replica kit, “FC Botiga” scarves and the like.

The people of Barcelona love walking. And in a city as beautiful as this, who wouldn’t.

That evening, when the game was on, the streets were close to deserted. The restaurants and tapas bars that were open were packed with supporters watching soccer. The only places in town without TVs or a care that the city’s star team were playing were the high-end tourist eateries.

Try finding a place to watch AC Milan vs Manchester United on the same night as Real Madrid were playing Lyon.

The owner of the Lebanese restaurant we were set to eat at told us in no uncertain terms that “This is Spain. People want to see Madrid!”

(Eventually we found a British pub with both games being screened.)

When you’re reading this, I’ll have visited the Camp Nou (which means “new field”), Barcelona’s magnificent fortress that seats around 99 000 crazed fans.

We don’t have anything comparable back home. At least after the 2010 World Cup, we’ll have world class stadiums. Will we be able to fill them? That’s another question altogether.

Here’s the problem… I don’t think we’re nearly obsessed enough about our local football.

European and other global teams celebrate their home grounds. They are proper fortresses. Think about Stamford Bridge, Old Trafford, the Camp Nou, the San Siro … know what I’m getting at?

In South Africa, we have teams playing at different “home grounds” nearly every week. Sure, there’s been stadium construction to worry about. But will we see Kaizer Chiefs turn Soccer City into a proper home ground? What about Orlando Stadium?

What about our two largest clubs each building a museum with stadium tours? This should’ve been done ahead of the World Cup. You’ve got hundreds of thousands of soccer fans, many of whom will have heard of Orlando Pirates or Kaizer Chiefs…

Why not capitalize on this?

Lots needs to be done… We need to brand our top teams more. The management of the teams are to blame, so too the PSL for scheduling games at 3pm on a Wednesday afternoon.

The only time you experience true soccer fever everywhere is twice a year, when Chiefs play Pirates.

We need to fix that.