I WAS simply meant to call Adelaide and South Australia my home. Just like Gather Round was simply meant to make Adelaide and South Australia its home. And all the king's men and all the king's horses wouldn't drag either of us out of here.

For those of you to whom it's not obvious, I have flagrantly borrowed from the lyrics to Paul Kelly's eponymous tribute to Adelaide. Before injecting some creative liberty. And there's a powerful reason for it.

Growing up as a cricket person in Mumbai, I knew about Adelaide. I had heard about it of course. I'd even seen glimpses of the skyline every time the camera zoomed out of the Adelaide Oval on TV during the cricket. But I got acquainted with Adelaide mainly through Kelly's unforgettable ode to the place he grew up in.

It happened a few years before I moved here. A fellow cricket journalist at the paper I worked for in Mumbai had returned from covering an Indian cricket team tour of Australia. And he couldn't stop humming the song after having discovered it while at a Test in Adelaide. The "Adeeelllla-a-a-iddee" bit at the end of each verse anyway.

Subconsciously, I started doing it as well, and before long, my wife, Isha, was at it too at home. Long before we even dreamt of calling Adelaide our home, Paul Kelly's reflection piece on his original home had become our song.

It meant that I'd learned about the straightness of Kensington Road long before I ever got to live on the bend. I'd learnt about the Colonel Light Statue long before I actually stood in front of it. I'd learnt about the wide suburban streets long before I had the luxury of driving on them. And I'd learnt about how not much changes in Adelaide, long before I got acquainted with them.

The iconic lyrics of the song have very much formed a part of my Adelaide vocabulary ever since.

But as time went on and I discovered the true meaning of the song, I began relating with it at an even deeper level. In it, Kelly explores the emotional conundrum of returning to the place where your roots still lie. And the challenges that come with the realisation that you don't belong there anymore. Especially when you've found your true sense of belonging elsewhere. Like I have now in Adelaide.

And like Gather Round has in South Australia. Only three years in, it no longer feels like a round of footy. It's instead an integral part of this incredible state's rich cultural identity. 

As I've learned in my life, it's not always about where you are expected to go but more about where you are meant to be.

Gather Round might have been conceived as an ambitious promotion for the sport in Sydney, but it's very organically become a grand celebration of both the AFL and Australian Football in Adelaide.

If anything, it should make sense. Not simply because of how much South Australians obsess over their footy. But because South Australia, and Adelaide in particular, is a thumbnail of everything great that Australia has to offer.

Sunny, sandy beaches? Yeah, we've got them. Sharks? Yeah sorry, we've got them too. Seafood? Some of the best in the world. Wine? The best in the world. Hills? Don't even get me started. Nature? Where do we even start. Native wildlife? An abundance of it. 

You could literally start your day with breakfast in Hahndorf, head to Glenelg for a morning swim, hit a couple of wineries in McLaren Vale, grab a late lunch in Central Market, some more wine tasting in the Barossa and get back to one of the welcoming pubs in the Hills (I'd nominate Uraidla Hotel). Hectic, but very doable.

The Adelaide Central Market, by the way, in itself is a microcosm of South Australia's finest. From fresh produce to dining and wining options and even the very best of the locals. It's where my footy journey began incidentally, when I watched the 2017 SANFL Grand Final at the Adelaide Oval upon the suggestion of a proud Adelaidean I'd just met. "It's a great way to immerse yourself into some true South Aussie culture," he said. He was right. It turned out to be a seminal moment on my path to falling in love with the sport that I'm so privileged to write on now.  

It was in hindsight an insight into how this is a state that defines its identity through footy. Apart from being one that's always embraced footy as part of its overall narrative.

No wonder then that it boasts of an endless conveyor belt of football superheroes. But where South Australia stands out is the lack of insularity seen elsewhere. As I've learned during my time here, most South Australians have or have had a team in Victoria that they've barracked for. Whether it's to do with guernsey colours, or because of one of their beloved South Australian players ending up playing interstate.

So, for South Australians, footy is more than a mere parochial pursuit, which is what makes Adelaide and its surrounding areas even more worthy of staying on as perennial hosts for Gather Round. The massive crowds at almost every game over the last couple of years are testament to that.

The Norwood Oval games are the quickest to sell out as always. And for all the understandable excitement around footy at the iconic Adelaide Oval, this quiet suburban ground has left quite the impression. I was fortunate to call it my local venue when I lived in Norwood. It's every bit a throwback to the kind of suburban venue that historically made footy the fulcrum of community spirit in suburbs around the country. Where Norwood takes it to the next level is the array of shopping and eating and drinking options that are up for grabs down the street on The Parade, including the Norwood Food and Wine festival on the Sunday of Gather Round.  

So, what do the people of Adelaide think then about why the Gather Round seems to work so well here?

"Proximity and curiosity," says Peter Cirocco, who runs The Crowject podcast. "Curiosity over watching games at the Adelaide Oval ... and proximity of getting here by road, especially for those in Victoria."

He's not wrong, considering the number of interstate travellers who you do bump into at the Footy Festival.

They do come from everywhere. It's also quite something that a number of the legacy clubs have their own designated pubs in Adelaide, like Collingwood at the legendary Arkaba Hotel for example. It only adds to the wholesome feel to how Gather Round is received by South Australians everywhere.

Some here believe it's a great chance to showcase all of South Australia's attributes and what makes it special. Even if it means doing away with age-old reputations of being a place which doesn't know how to have a good time.

"We know we don't have to be fancy throughout the year," says veteran pro-wrestler Spe Caruana. "But when Adelaide turns it on, nobody does it better."

Four years into Gather Round's relationship with South Australia, you'd say it's time to talk nuptials. What began as love at first sight has become a thriving, soulful romance that is crying for a happily ever in Adeeelll-a-a-a-iddde, where it belongs.