When Alice Hendy moved to London from her native Portsmouth, West Ham United became a big part of her life.
Alice lived a stone’s throw from Upton Park when the Hammers still played there, and would save money she should have been spending on food and drink, just so she could watch her new local team. A lot of the time, she would take her brother Josh along to games to give him a taste of Premier League football.
In November 2020, Josh died by suicide at the age of 21. Alice has responded by setting up R;pple, a browser extension which intercepts searches to do with self-harm and suicide and directs users to immediate and longer-term support. This month, a year after the extension was launched, West Ham themselves have become the first Premier League club to partner with R;pple to support their own staff and players on their books.
