18-Year-old Tommy Rance has been a Hampton & Richmond Borough fan for eighteen years.
No, that’s not a typo.
Like so many other fans around the country, Rance did not have much choice in which football team he was going to support.
“My first game was at twenty days. It was meant to be six days, but there was a postponement! So, I had to wait an extra fortnight for my first taste of the Bev.”
A young Rance celebrating with the league trophy in 2007.
The Hampton native only lives a ten minute walk from the ground, and his family have been part of the club since the 90s.
“My grandad brought my dad down when he stopped going to Brentford because he couldn’t take a child in. He brought my dad and his brother and over time they really enjoyed it, and my grandad got involved with lots of different roles [at the club].”
Whether it was his grandad as the media officer or producer of the programs or his current role as club historian, or his dad as the man behind the bar, occasional PA announcer, or his current role as the chairman of the supporters trust, working in the club runs in the family. And the latest Rance is no different.
On home match days many of you would have heard him over the PA system.
Rance conducting a pre-match mic check.
His time sharing his dulcet tones over the speakers are coming to an end soon due to work commitments, but he’s enjoyed every bit of it, so he tells us. He also makes sure the pre-match playlist, specifically curated by James Dean at the supporter’s trust, gets its time in the sun (or more recently the rain) every other Saturday, and the walkout song is the best it can be.
“I absolutely love it. To be the voice of the Bev is something special. It’s something I’m going to miss when I have to give it up, but it’s in safe hands.”
“To say you’ve done it, I think I’m the third Rance to have done it, so through the family line! That’s very cool.”
There aren’t many bigger fans of HRBFC, proven a recently by a ten-day stint from the 7th of January to the 17th.
In that time Rance attended:
7th Jan, U19s vs Tooting and Mitcham, Youth Development League at Bedfont Sports.
8th Jan, U19s vs Barnet, National League Alliance at The Hives back pitches.
10th Jan, 1st Team vs Torquay United, National League South at Plainmoor.
12th Jan, U18s vs Badshot Lea, Isthmian Youth League at Bedfont Sports.
14th Jan AM, U19s vs Hemel Hempstead Town, National League Alliance at Vauxhall Road.
14th Jan EVE, U18s vs Northwood, Isthmian Youth League Cup, at The Skyline Roofing Stadium, Northwood.
17th Jan, 1st Team vs Dorking Wanderers, National League South at Beveree!
When sharing this information with the media team, Rance made sure to include that he “missed a fixture on the Friday for the U19s against Sutton Utd”
We won’t hold it against you on this occasion Tommy.
Eight games, ten days, one question.
Why?
Rance simply answered, “Because I caught the bug, definitely! I am really supportive of the work the academy are doing, so it’s really good for me to go and help the U18s because they’re really successful this season…I think they deserve a bit more attention, so I try and do that with the match updates for the 18s.”
Rance contributes to the Academy X account by posting live updates of most of their matches.
“And then for the 19s, I’ve been quite tight with a lot of the lads over the last couple of years so I really want to support them and help them out in any shape or form. For me it’s a no brainer. I am free until I start [my new job] so why not go and lend a hand, help better their experience, make their results and performances more positive.”
Rance with his grandparents after playing the final U19s game of the season at Beveree, early 2025.
One of the senior games in that eight was away to Torquay United. A nigh on ten hour round trip to Devon. Rance was one of just nineteen HRBFC fans who made the journey.
“It’s one of my favourite away days. We[‘ve] played them six or seven times now. I’ve not missed one.”
“It’s such a special ground. From where we’ve come in the eighteen years following us, you’ve seen us play on some park pitches right? To go to Plainmoor, last season especially, in front of four and a half thousand people. It is just mental that you can watch your local team down there.”
Rance and Co celebrating last season's away victory at Torquay.
“I know it sounds silly but the football on away days is kind of second. I go for the day out, going with your friends. It’s all about just having fun. There were about fifteen of us, we’re all having a singsong as you do, we had about 100 Torquay fans giving it back to us when we started losing and that’s just a bit of fun, friendly banter, [in the] spirit of football.”
When asked about attendances both home and away this season, Rance answered,
“We’re still one of the smaller clubs in the league, so it feels we’re capped at a certain level at times…but I do definitely think there’s still more space to grow.”
“Following Hampton away in this league is expensive. There’s no doubt about that. The ticket prices are only going up year on year, that’s why it’s brilliant they’ve been cut here. The away following could be bigger, but we don’t have enough people to go every week, it’s just not financially tenable. It’s not. And you’d be mad to think it was.”
The club then asked if he could cast his mind back over the years, (which is usually easier for teenagers, but the normal teenager hasn’t been coming to the football since they were less than a month old) and pick his favourite away day of all time:
“The best one I have probably seen is Chelmsford in the playoff semi-final in 2018. That was the most away fans I’ve ever seen Hampton take, we probably had about 300, which is an effort and a half.”
“Current player/assistant manager Max Kretzschmar scored a penalty in the 60th minute and we held on. We rode it all the way back to the bar at the Bev!...We all came back here and there were 50 people in the bar after an away match! And the thought of having the playoff final here the following week was just special.”
The final question we posed Rance, was probably the toughest to answer.
What does Hampton & Richmond Borough mean to you?
"It means the world, people could call me sad but it’s probably my life. I’ve got such a connection through my family, through myself, I’d probably call this my second home.”
“Beveree Stadium. You walk in, and I’ll speak to you (gesturing to the interviewer Jack Lonergan), and then I’ll speak to someone else, and there’s no one who you don’t know. You go to the bar [after the game] and you buy a drink or two and you’ll be there ‘til seven o’clock.”
“Maybe you’ll chat football for a little bit, but literally just chatting with other people. It’s always better when we win obviously but it’s the community element I love the most.”
“I couldn’t see myself without it.”
Rance with his brother and father before a game, circa 2016
Interview conducted and written by Jack Lonergan.