The second match against Olympia Groningen

The second game was held on Tuesday night, September 11, 1956, in Groningen. My father noted that it rained during the entire match. The game was played against Olympia Groningen, a prominent handball club that was active between 1926 and 1970.

The photograph was taken just before the game began. The Rehovot team members standing from left to right: Hanan Sheibe and Mottale Rozenshtein (holding the pennant), Hagai Lachover, Yaakov Sendler, Shaya Yarimi, Moti Mokasai, Amihud Shani, Shlomi Kishinyevski, Gigi Cohen, Tzurik Ben-Ari, Imri Tov, Boaz Latvinovski, Uri Cohen, Tuvia Cherni, Feldman, and Moshe Nutman.

The Director of the Groningen Synagogue, Mr. Geert Volders, uncovered the following newspaper clippings. Thank you so much for these incredible findings!

HANDBALL: Maccabi Rehovoth to Groningen
On Tuesday evening, a friendly handball match will be played in Groningen at the Oosterpark. As part of the Second International Sports Festival Groningen 1956, Olympia will face Maccabi Rehovoth, the team from Israel. Little is known about this Israeli team, but in the match played on Saturday in Hengelo against Olympia from that city, the Dutch won 10–7. The line-up for Maccabi, which will be received by the Mayor and Aldermen at the Town Hall on Tuesday, is as follows: G. Cohen; Mockasey and Benari; Rosenstein, Schani and Ludwinowski; Scherny, A. Cohen, Sandler, Schibe and Lachover. Olympia line-up as follows: d. Van Rees; a. Boon and Alders; m. Noorda, Pentenga and Bakker; v. Sprenger, Bensink, Kooi, v.d. Geest and Reenders.

HANDBALL. Olympia drew against Israel
In very poor weather conditions, a handball match was played at the Oosterpark in Groningen between Olympia (Groningen) and an Israeli team, consisting of players from the championship side Maccabi and sports club Hapoel. The match ended in a draw (6–6), after the Israelis had gone into the break with a 3–1 lead.

I don't have any additional information about this match or their stay in Groningen. This is the only photo from the 11th in the album; the next set of photos picks up three days later in Eindhoven on September 14th.

The photograph was taken by professional photojournalist Piet Boonstra, one of the most prominent chroniclers of postwar Dutch life in Groningen. Active from 1948 until 1986, his commercial agency, Fotobedrijf Piet Boonstra, frequently captured major regional events for local newspapers and the national Dutch press agency (ANP). He had a profound passion for documenting local athletic history, regularly photographing regional soccer and field handball matches. Today, thousands of his original negatives are preserved in the Groningen Archives (Groninger Archieven), cementing his legacy as a vital visual historian - though I could not find this specific photograph in their digital collection.