We showed the England v France match and had English, French and Portuguese sitting next to each other. There Portuguese and English sat side by side and watched the quarter final between England and Portugal on the pub’s big screen.Carlos Alves, 48, wore an England shirt for that game but whipped it off to reveal a Portuguese shirt underneath.”We will be showing the match on the big screen,” says Ms Powell “And both English and Portuguese will be here. Near the Volunteer Mr De Mello owns a half share in The Ship with Cheryl Powell. But mixed with this is the rural and the industrial.Although there are some who have taken against the Portuguese, they are not the whole story.

The police have been very good to us and we are grateful for their support.”Boston is a small town of 50,000, an urban island with a flat green sea that has the reclaimed Fenland on one side and the grey expanse of the North Sea on the other. The port still operates, but despite the town’s nautical face most of its income now comes from the fertile plains that were reclaimed by the Dutch 400 years ago.Its seafaring heritage is evident from the dockyard cranes that dominate the skyline opposite the Volunteer Bar and the waterways that cut deep into the town centre, with boats lolling on the sandbanks at low tide. It is very exciting and it’s getting tense.”There are two kinds of people here People who like football and people who make problems. Two windows in the Volunteer Bar have been broken and the police will be present outside tonight to make sure no one spoils the party.Nelson Silva, 28, works in a recruitment agency. He is from Lisbon and is one of the few people in the bar who can speak English fluently He says: “This is the place where all the Portuguese meet I am very proud of our team This is the last game for Figo .. and he deserves to leave with a championship. “I’m a bit surprised they are in the final because this has been a hard competition, but I will watch it at home because I want to have my privacy and I don’t want to make any problems.”Mr De Silva, a cleaner who has been in England for four years, refers to a problem that could take the shine of the match A minority of Boston locals resent the Portuguese. It will be 2-1 to us and I will celebrate with a drink.”Jose Ferreira De Silva, 40, is sitting at a table with his English partner, Lynn “I’m excited,” he says.

That is as far as the decorations go.If Mr De Mello is cautious about his team’s chances, his compatriots lined up along the bar are not.Jose Bento, 47, from Porto, who works in a vegetable factory, says: “I am very happy to be in the final but not surprised I trust in the performance of the team … There is a picture of the national team and a Portugal scarf. It is a low-ceilinged hybrid of a traditional English pub with a bar, beer pumps and optics, and a Portuguese caf?Behind the bar, two televisions are showing a live feed of the Portuguese manager, Luiz Felipe Scolari, taking questions from journalists. We have good players but we lost the first game against Greece.”The Volunteer Bar is the focal point of Boston’s expatriate community, one of England’s largest. It is now home to around 4,000 Portuguese drawn by the demand for cheap causal labour on the land and in its processing factories.”As this match is very important, I’m worrying about it,” he says “It is a game and a game can always go either way You just don’t know. Cry Luis Figo, Portugal and you can forget St George

Cry Luis Figo, Portugal and you can forget St George
It could be an expensive night for Vasco De Mello if Portugal win tonight. The champagne is on ice in the Volunteer Bar he owns in Boston in Lincolnshire and he has pledged drinks all round not only if Portugal win, but also for each goal his national side scores in tonight’s European Cup Final against Greece.Mr De Mello, 44, from Porto, was one of the first Portuguese to arrive in the Fenland town 15 years ago.

I helped organise the first Gay Pride in 1972 and the same splits existed then between those wanting to keep homosexuality private and those wanting to overturn discrimination.”Steve Bloomfield. For example, it is still lawful to refuse to serve gay people in shops.”There is a range of views in the community. But those chief constables still refusing to let their gay officers march need to be honest about why that is.”Peter Tatchell, human rights activist”We’ve come a long way but there is still a lot of discrimination to overcome. Now we are hopefully going to see the Partnership Bill go through Parliament, so this is a celebration.”This parade helps say to people who haven’t come out yet, ‘there’s nothing to be frightened of’.”Brian Paddick, deputy assistant commissioner of the Metropolitan Police, marching with nearly 100 uniformed gay police officers”When police officers know their chief constable has given permission for gay officers to march, it sends a strong message from the very top that homophobia is not acceptable.”We’ve got more forces represented than last year, so it’s gaining momentum.