provides a four-yearly boost to certain sectors of Bermuda's economy, like travel agencies, retailers of sports merchandise and local sports bars. With next year's competition being held close to home in the US, local companies could have expected even greater financial rewards than normal. But the failure to qualify of all four British sides and Portugal may put a dent in their earnings projections. This week, the Business section takes a look at how local companies view their money-making prospects.

The business which probably stands to suffer the most from the qualification failure of England, Scotland and Portugal and, to a much lesser extent, Northern Ireland and Wales, is The Robin Hood pub and restaurant.

Four years ago, hundreds of beer-swilling Brits turned the pub into a soccer shrine for a whole month during Italia '90.

Takings were boosted by an astonishing $11,000 on match days and management had to order an extra 150 cases -- that's 3,600 bottles -- of beer a day to cope with demand.

Mr. Rick Olson, owner/manager of the business, felt the failure of the British sides to qualify this time around in the most painful place of all -- his wallet.

"We were joking the other day that we would have taken an extra $50,000 worth of sales if England had qualified for the finals of the World Cup,'' said Mr.

Olson.

Joking? Surely, it is not a laughing matter? "It's definitely unfortunate for us that none of the British teams, particularly the England side, qualified,'' he said. "But, then, that's football.

"For an England game, you're talking about a record day of sales, guaranteed.

We get three times more sales than on a normal day and can expect to take an extra $5,000.

"We usually average at least 100 but our biggest crowd was for the England v.

Holland match when we had 350 people.'' Despite the absence of the Brits, he has not written off World Cup USA altogether, especially with Ireland sneaking through by the narrowest of margins on the last day of qualifying. And the Irish have been known to like a drink.

"We're still certainly going to get good crowds for the finals because Bermuda is full of football fans who like top class competition,'' said Mr.

Olson.

"But the crowds will be nothing like we would get for an England game. We will simply not get the casual fan.'' Local travel agencies could reasonably have expected to have been swamped with bookings from Brits, particularly with the event being held on Bermuda's door-step.

But this anticipated bumper demand may not now materialise, said Scotsman Mr.

Macrae Mitchell, vice president of travel at L.P. Gutteridge, who emphasised that his comments were his personally and not necessarily those of his firm.

"With no British teams qualifying, there will be a certain loss of interest in the World Cup because everybody in Bermuda pretty well follows the British players through the winter season,'' said Mr. Mitchell. "I wouldn't bother going now and I'll watch it on TV instead.

"Not to have any British Isles teams in other than Ireland is somewhat devastating. It will definitely have a bearing on attendance at the World Cup.

"The Americans have probably sighed a bit of relief that England did not make it because their supporters have a tendency to let them down.

"But, from a financial viewpoint, they will have great difficulty in making a profit out of it now, in my opinion.'' He added: "It all comes down to the fact that the teams many people would have followed have not made it.

"I can't see many of them going to the World Cup when they can sit at home or go to the Robin Hood. They will still watch the event but will not spend the money to go.'' Mr. Buddy Franklin, of Franklin Travel, said the effect on bookings would not be known until after the World Cup draw on December 19.

"We've been advertising since August/September,'' said Mr. Franklin. "We have had a number of initial inquiries but people are holding off from booking until after the draw is made.'' Widespread rumours that all World Cup tickets were already sold out were misleading, he said.

"All the tickets may technically have been sold, but mostly to wholesalers who probably have plenty left to pass on to people who want to see games,'' he added. "I don't think there will be too great a problem obtaining tickets.'' Although the British teams and Portugal may not have made it, Mr. Franklin said there was still business to be done among Bermuda's large Italian contingent.

"I'm sure, also, that Bermudians will go to see the Brazilians or the South Americans,'' he said. "Maybe those who were UK supporters may not go, but the World Cup is the World Cup. I think many will go anyway.'' The marketing strategy for the 1994 World Cup was geared more towards the individual allocation of tickets, not groups, he said.

Another sector of the economy looking to do well out of the competition are suppliers of sports merchandise.

Mr. Daren Mayeaux, of Sports R Us, said: "We've got a lot of World Cup USA hats and T-shirts in right now and we're, hopefully, getting in jackets soon.

Our sales on the products we have in so far have been great.

"The World Cup is going to have a great effect on us mainly because it's being played in the US, which goes gung-ho on anything it produces.

"There will be far more publicity and advertisements shown in Bermuda on the US networks and on cable than we normally receive if the event is played in other parts of the world.

"We normally do quite well out of the World Cup and we expect next year to be no exception, with or without the British teams.'' His biggest turnover of merchandise is expected to come from official World Cup USA souvenirs advertising the whole event, not products relating to specific teams, he said.

"Because of that, I don't think the failure to qualify of the British teams will have much of an effect on our sales,'' he added.

Most World Cup merchandise will be flowing into the Island after Christmas when there will be a series of trade shows in the US.

"You can expect them in local stores during February,'' said Mr. Mayeaux.

"I'm confident our sales of World Cup merchandise will be the highest its ever been because it's close to home and being marketed by the US. People will be bombarded with hype. It will be a big season for us from February on.'' So the failure of the British teams will not have much effect? "No, not really,'' said Mr. Mayeaux. "Of course, if Bermuda had qualified that would have been different.'' 'ERE WE GO, 'ERE WE GO, 'ERE WE GO -- British soccer fans help boost takings at The Robin Hood pub during Italia '90.