I think that for some men a dislike of football is formed at school by the attitude of those who 'love' the game. Team sport bollocks.
But it's also about a sense of place, as the earlier article said. IIRC even Shaker became briefly interested thanks to Leicester's epic win last year, although my guess is he'll be disinterested again given how this season is going. I don't live in Cambridgeshire but I have enough ties to it to watch Cambridge's cup run with interest and keep an eye on their score. I kind of expected my friend to be a bit 'oh wow, that's good,' not 'no, I really don't give a shit'.