Obrigado Vasco! - now Gautengelengs feel sick

Vasco jou lekker ding! Show me the Capetonian whose heart is not warmed by the triumphant march of Club de Regatas Vasco da Gama FC into the Premiership and I will show you someone who should be latched securely to the back of a bakkie headed over Sir Lowry's Pass.

Destination? Who cares!

So, all Portuguese jokes aside. Especially the ancient one about them not being able to win games because they keep opening shops when they are awarded corners.

Not to mention the end of disparaging discourse about Parow, which is now central to the life of two Premiership clubs as the site of Ajax Cape Town's headquarters as well the scene of Vasco's famous victory over Black Leopards.

In fact, I can neither confirm nor deny that Jack Parow is working on an updated version of his instant Afrikaans rap classic "Cooler as ekke", which may or may not include the line:

"Jy dink sokker is Ronaldo, ek ken van Vasco."

And, of course, there are now three Cape Town clubs in the top flight. John Goliath got it slap bang right when he wrote in Monday's Cape Times that Gauteng clubs "must be sick" at that very thought.

Sick as parrots they certainly are and the ill-feeling has permeated further than the clubs. You see, Gautengelengs as a breed believe they own South African football. In their view, sides from the Cape, kwaZulu-Natal and Bloemfontein are irritating little brothers, the reason for their existence a mystery.

Up on the Highveld, indifference is invariably the reaction to the success of non-Gauteng clubs. That was as true as ever at the weekend, when Joburgers hardly blinked as they watched Vasco fans leaping about their television screens like Smurfs on steroids.

Ajax have earned themselves a handful of fans - and growing - at altitude. But Santos are still regarded as invasive aliens, a status Vasco will no doubt find they share in 2011. No matter. As Santos proved in 2001-02, a lack of respect up north is no impediment to winning the league.

It's taken Vasco 30 years of losing and winning - and winning some more, and a few near-misses - to earn the right to play with the big boys.

Along the way, the club has been home to André Arendse, Shaun Bartlett, Thabo Mngomeni and David Nyathi. They own a total of 224 Bafana caps between them. Who can say what Vasco might have accomplished had talents like those not felt the need to further their careers in greener, more high-profile pastures?

The current squad lists one Postnet Omony, Uganda's first-choice goalkeeper. You might say he delivers the goods, or that he pushes the corners of the envelope, or even that he puts his stamp on every game he plays.

I'm not sure if Omony's first name is properly spelt Posnet, as some sources out there have it, and in the fine traditions of journalism, I'm not going let that fact, if indeed it is a fact, get in the way of a good story.

Here's hoping that at the end of 2011 the mood in the Vasco clubhouse is as joyous as it is now. Being promoted is one thing, staying up there distinctly another.

Playing in the Premier League is a long, hard slog for all the teams involved, and more so for those who don't have access to the kind of resources that take some of the bumps out of the ride.

But, for now, bloody well done Vasco. And, if I may, obrigado!