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John Goliath (centre) got a good seat as journalists jockeyed for position at the Cape derby press conference.

THIS week’s Cape derby press conference at the Civic Centre was a rather interesting affair.

Besides the fact that there was so little space where it was conducted that some of my colleagues had to sit on the ground and others had to stand, it was quite fascinating to hear about the buzz in the Ajax Cape Town and Santos camps.

Normally when people say things like “the intensity at training has picked up for this weekend’s match”, you ask yourself what the intensity normally is like when clubs prepare for a match.

It’s like telling your girlfriend she looks beautiful only after she had her hair done. And nine times out of 10, gents, she will think to herself: “What do I normally look like then?” It’s a rather delayed Valentine’s Day tip, but one that might serve you well with all the sport on television this weekend.

The highlight for me is the Cape derby, unlike others who have been salivating about their Super Rugby sugar rush this weekend.

And during Wednesday’s press conference, I could see the intensity and desire of both sets of coaches going into the biggest football match in Cape Town – or at least what is supposed to be the biggest.

As far as South African football is concerned, it seems like the Cape derby means little to people outside the Mother City. But for the players involved, it seems like the derby is growing and soon will have the appeal of Cape derbies of yesteryear.

Let’s be honest, though – this derby is never going to have the intensity in the stands of this weekend’s other derby – the North London derby. The hatred Tottenham and Arsenal fans have for each other could be compared to the dislike Ghanaians and, well, almost everybody who doesn’t support Liverpool, have for one Luis Suarez.

This is Cape Town and all of us are just too laidback to stab somebody over a football match.

But over the last few years, I have managed to get excited about some of the football displayed in the derby, and last season’s 4-3 win for a 10-man Ajax comes to mind, as well as Erwin Isaacs’s equaliser in injury time that led to the normally reserved Foppe de Haan walking up to the referee in protest.

So the Cape derby doesn’t have to stand back as far as a spectacle is concerned. And I suspect we are going to be in for plenty of drama and intrigue, even if the protagonists find themselves in vastly different situations at the moment.

Like both Maarten Stekelenburg and Duncan Crowie said, you might as well toss the form book out of the window, because a derby is anyone’s game. And in Cape Town, this derby is our game.

TWEETS OF THE WEEK

@Frimpong26AFC (Emmanuel Frimpong, Arsenal midfielder hitting back at Piers Morgan): @piersmorgan stop chatting soo much rubbish you. U no nothing about football, u sit behind ur laptop and just talk utter rubbish.

@Frimpong26AFC: @piersmorgan just don’t bring your ugly face to the emirates cus we as Arsenal are sick and tired of ur abuse towards players and coach.

WHO TO FOLLOW

@RyanBabel (Dutch international and former Liverpool striker, currently with TSG 1899 Hoffenheim): If @WayneRooney is dry and boring, Babel is quite the opposite. He is quite witty and some of his tweets are hilarious.

*Follow John Goliath on Twitter: @Anchorman82

*Send your views to john.goliath@inl.co.za