Meet the Leeds United fan spreading word of the Whites in Brazil

Ian Bloom was introduced to the South American nation’s beautiful style of playing as a child, when his father, Carl, would project World Cup highlights on the living room wall at home in the East Yorkshire city.

And so his love for Don Revie’s no-nonsense Whites team of the late 1960s and 70s was complemented by a passion for the flair of icons like Pelé. The boy from Eastfield School was so endeared, in fact, that in his 20s he moved to Brazil - where he has promoted his beloved LUFC ever since.

Speaking from his home in São Roque in the state of São Paulo, English teacher Ian says: “Due to the fact that most Brazilians are interested in football I have enjoyed spreading the word of Leeds United to them both inside the classroom and outside it.

“They love my Leeds football shirts, football programmes and souvenirs. Several of my students will start class commenting on Leeds’s last game, too,” he says.

Even the outside of his house is painted white and blue to represent his team’s colours, he says.

“Nowadays I manage to watch every Leeds game on TV or on the Leeds site,” says Ian.

However, “it was torture for me in the beginning. I have even knocked on peoples' doors in the past when I noticed they had a Sky dish to ask if I could watch the Leeds game. This is embarrassing, I know.”

Ian, 63, moved from Hull to Brazil in the mid-1980s at a time when, he says, it was rare to even have access to telephones.

So when Leeds United won the First Division title in 1992 after their 3–2 derby win at Sheffield United - the last such trophy before it became the Premier League - the news took a while to get through to Ian.

“I found out one or two days later in the (Brazilian) newspaper,” he says.

"What makes it even funnier is that I wrote a letter to my mum and asked my mum to buy me the shirt of the Leeds team for me to wear, to show that my team was English champions.

"I didn’t realise that my mum had sent me a shirt that she bought in a sale from the season before – she’d bought it cheap!”

Ian eventually got the right shirt, one of many in years of fandom as, despite training as a youngster at Hull City’s former Boothferry Park ground, Leeds was always his team.

"I always supported Leeds – they played such entertaining football at that time,” says Ian.

He adds: “People ask me ‘Who was your favourite Leeds player? It's very difficult. I mean, I just love that Revie team. I was a goalkeeper myself so I was a big fan of David Harvey. He was my goalkeeping hero.”

It was as a child that his love for Brazil came about too.

“That was my dad's fault, actually, because he bought some of those old projector films, the 8mm films from the past. He bought the highlights of the 1966 World Cup final, England and Germany, plus he semi-final of England against Portugal, and the Brazil final against Italy in 1970.

He adds: “The first World Cup I remember actually watching was 1974. I remember watching that because I was 13, watching some of the games at a friend's house. I started paying special attention to the Brazil team because of what I already knew about them, and that continued in ‘78 and then in ‘82, when Brazil had that fantastic team that lost 3-2 to Italy in Spain. People really seem to remember the Brazilian team from 1982 more than the team that actually won the final, which was Italy, and something that stuck in people's minds, the style of play, the skill the guys had.”

Because of his love for the Brazil team, Ian asked a friend who was into ham radio if they knew anyone from the country who might be able to send him one of their famous yellow jerseys. He was put in touch with two people who, alongside another Brazilian he’d met in London, became pen pals and had all invited him over on holiday when he was 23.

Two years later, in 1986, Ian moved to Brazil after just turning 25.

He says: “When I when I arrived, the only thing I could do is in Portuguese was count to 10, and say thank you and goodbye in Portuguese, to be honest.”

But within a few years had met the woman who would become his wife, Regina, with whom he has daughter Laura, aged 23 – and she wants to live in England.

While Ian remains an avid Whites fan, his love for his adopted home’s national team isn’t what it was. Coincidentally, in the quarter-finals of Copa América this summer, Brazil lost on penalties to Uruguay, managed by none other than the Argentine modern Leeds United legend Marcelo Bielsa.

“Brazil’s playing really poor, I mean horrible football at the moment,” says Ian. “The only guy I like in that team is (former Leeds player) Raphinha. The guys are playing really bad footbal. If I had to go back in time today, let's say if time repeated itself, I definitely wouldn't come to Brazil today because of football like I did in 1984 and 86. Because they've completely lost the DNA of Brazilian football and that's true in the club teams as well.”

His own value in Brazil, though, is assured – he is being recognised for his contribition at a civic ceremony on August 14, which is already an emotional anniversary after the death of his father 35 years ago.

Ian says: "It has come as a big surprise to me because I never expected anything like that. It's extra nice to me because it's going to be on the same day as my father died - which of course it's terrible, but at least there's going to be something nice happening on that date.”