By Lakilah Harrigan With England knocked out of the Euro 2000 soccer tournament, local bar owners are hoping supporters of other teams will keep their profits up.

Bars contacted recently by The Royal Gazette noted English soccer games brought in large crowds and kept tills ringing, but the team's early exit meant they will be looking to Portuguese and Italian supporters, in particular, to boost business.

Docksiders Pub and Restaurant co-owner Anthony White said: "Business will not be as good now that England has been knocked out, but there are a lot of people watching the tournament anyway.

"We have fronted ourselves as the Portuguese bar on the Island as the English guys and myself are disappointed, but many Portuguese guys are coming down,'' he added.

MR Onions co-owner Lorie Talbot said, while customer morale would drop now that England did not qualify, there was still a great deal of comradeship among customers.

She said there would still be people coming to see Portugal, France and Italy play.

While a typical Saturday crowd was 40-55 people, Mrs. Talbot noted England games brought in a crowd of 100-120 people.

And although the place will not be packed with as many English supporters, it will give staff members -- who have been working overtime -- a break and give the Portuguese a chance to come in and watch the matches, she noted.

She added that the bar would not necessarily lose money as many of the clients were drinking juice and soda on the afternoons when the game is on.

But Duncan Adams of Flanagan's said: "There are a lot of English ex-pats who frequent the bar and we will see a drop, but we now have Portuguese locals and Italians coming in, with all the Italian restaurants.'' He said England not qualifying for the next round of the competition was a bit of a blow but noted other people would be coming in to watch the game.

And he mentioned that England did not appear to have as strong a team and that there was a clear chance that they might not make it.

While agreeing that England did not appear to have a very strong team, Gary (Sheps) Sheppard, co-owner of the Robin Hood Pub, was less optimistic that business would not suffer.

He said the bar was expecting to cash in on England's qualifying as any game England played in brought a large crowd.

But Mr. Sheppard added that customers were still interested in the tournament in general, although England's supporters were disappointed.

SOCCER SOC