Cape Town may host eight games of the World Cup but on Saturday it was proudly Bok Town.
Rugby's Springboks, the symbol of the sporting nation long before Bafana Bafana came onto the horizon, played not far from Table Mountain and the World Cup's Green Point Stadium but there were precious few yellow national-team jerseys on show.
It was all the dark green of the Springboks colors at Newlands Stadium, where 46,885 fans made almost as much noise as any vuvuzela-tooting football crowd - especially when the Springboks beat France 42-17.
And where football is still overwhelmingly poor and black, rugby is well heeled, only emerging recently from its links with conservative Afrikanerdom.
``It is the way you grew up. For many white people, rugby will always be No. 1,'' said Sharl Venter, who took 8-year-old son Simeon to the game.
When Simeon had to pick whether he would liked a Bafana Bafana World Cup win or a rugby win, the answer came as quick as a kid can talk - ``Springboks!''
If not as fervent, the Venters still are cheering for the football team throughout the month too. At his company, Venter even bought television screens to let the staff enjoy the games.
``We have been watching the World Cup games so far,'' Venter said.
So, the football World Cup is showing that the sporting fan lines that once were as clear as black and white have become increasingly blurred.
The 1995 Rugby World Cup in South Africa was instrumental in reconciling blacks with rugby - seen as a symbol of the apartheid oppressor - after Nelson Mandela did his utmost to make it happen.
Sukumzi Bilinga, 52, still remembers the pleas of Madiba, as Mandela is affectionally known.
``He said black people must begin to claim the game, to play it and to support it,'' Bilinga said.
And Bilinga did. He knows the game by heart, is a fan, ``wholeheartedly.'' And his son, Camagu, as part of the new generation, plays both football and rugby.
For that 1995 rugby final, Bilinga set up a braai barbecue to enjoy the game, celebrating afterward when the Springboks won the title. If he'd had the money, he would have worn a Springboks jersey too, just like Mandela did.
Even now, finances remains a sporting divider. On Saturday, the fans at Newlands stadium were not exactly a reflection of the ``Rainbow Nation.'' By comparison, South African football league seats are cheap.
``I'd love to go to a game like today but the tickets are too expensive,'' Bilinga said. ``More white people go to rugby because they can afford it.''
What is now a financial gap, used to be a yawning ethnic and political gap. After the blacks followed Mandela's lead to embrace rugby, the white population has been turning to football, too.
Rugby has even been taking the lead.
The Springboks say they are happy to take a back seat during the monthlong World Cup, even though they play four tests during the tournament - two against Italy and one at fierce rival New Zealand.
``We play second fiddle and happily so,'' Springbok captain John Smit said.
The only time Bafana Bafana might have a negative impact on the Springboks, though, is when they continue playing such cliffhangers as the 1-1 draw against Mexico in the World Cup opener on Friday.
``My heart stopped five times watching Bafana Bafana,'' Smit said.
