From pub team to Europe, Bruno's Magpies soar

"They're just a pub team"

It has been an expression used by many football fans over the years.

Such a putdown remains in the game, always as a negative when looking down on a club.

Bruno's Magpies of Gibraltar are changing all that. They are, without doubt, the most successful pub team of the 21st century.

Next month they will be in Northern Ireland, ready to compete in European club football, less than a decade on from being formed in a bar by a teenager simply looking for a game at the weekend.

Lewis Perry was 18 when his grandparents acquired Bruno's Bar in Gibraltar.

He decided to move over. Having played at county level in Portsmouth in England, he wanted to keep his hobby going. The problem was, he couldn't find anywhere to play.

"I decided to move over here because my Nan and Grandad had a bar here called Bruno's. At the time Gibraltar was a local league.

"Unless you were a local, there just wasn't a football team for you. There was lots of ex-pats and people working over here, who wanted to play, but there wasn't a team for us to play with.

"In England or Ireland, there's league and facilities where you can play football as much as you want. They're not the top league obviously. But here there was literally only one league and that's the main one for the country.

"There isn't anything else here because the pitches aren't here."

Bruno's Magpies make their first signing, with Mick and Lewis on hand

The final straw came when he went on trial with a team who hadn't won a match for two years.

He scored two goals in a friendly, playing left-back, but was told the assistant manager of the outfit holds that position. At that point, Louis took the hint.

Having settled into his new surroundings, he realised the problem was not just