Reinder ("Rein") Boomsma (19 June 1879 – 27 May 1943) was a Dutch

footballer A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugby ...

, who played for

Sparta Sparta (Doric Greek: Σπάρτα, ''Spártā''; Attic Greek: Σπάρτη, ''Spártē'') was a prominent city-state in Laconia, in ancient Greece. In antiquity, the city-state was known as Lacedaemon (, ), while the name Sparta referred ...

and the Dutch national team.

Club career

Boomsma was born in

Schagen Schagen () is a city and municipality in the northwestern Netherlands. It is located between Alkmaar and Den Helder, in the region of West Friesland and the province of North Holland. It received city rights in 1415. In 2013, Schagen merged wit ...

, North Holland in 1879, and moved to

Rotterdam Rotterdam ( , , , lit. ''The Dam on the River Rotte'') is the second largest city and municipality in the Netherlands. It is in the province of South Holland, part of the North Sea mouth of the Rhine–Meuse–Scheldt delta, via the ''"N ...

in 1888. He started to play football on the streets, where he was noticed by

Kees van Hasselt Kees or KEES may refer to: * Kees (given name) * Kees (surname) * KEES, an American AM radio station licensed to Gladewater, Texas See also * Cees (disambiguation) Cees () is a Dutch masculine given name, a short form of Cornelis. Since, as ...

. He joined

sometime around 1895. He would remain with the club until his retirement from football in 1907. A year later, in 1908, he was made honorary member of the club. Boomsma scored the only goal for Sparta in the league game against reigning champions RAP of Amsterdam on 29 October 1899. The match was the first charity game in the Netherlands, held to support the

Boer Boers ( ; af, Boere ()) are the descendants of the Dutch-speaking Free Burghers of the eastern Cape frontier in Southern Africa during the 17th, 18th, and 19th centuries. From 1652 to 1795, the Dutch East India Company controlled this a ...

cause in the

Second Boer War The Second Boer War ( af, Tweede Vryheidsoorlog, , 11 October 189931 May 1902), also known as the Boer War, the Anglo–Boer War, or the South African War, was a conflict fought between the British Empire and the two Boer Republics (the South ...

. The match grossed 1,201

guilders Guilder is the English translation of the Dutch and German ''gulden'', originally shortened from Middle High German ''guldin pfenninc'' " gold penny". This was the term that became current in the southern and western parts of the Holy Roman Em ...

and 51.5 cents.

International career

Boomsma was also part of the first Neherlands national football team, that played against

Belgium Belgium, ; french: Belgique ; german: Belgien officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. The country is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeast, France to ...

on 30 April 1905. He also played for the Netherlands in the return match in Rotterdam on 14 May 1905. These would remain the only matches Boomsma played for the Netherlands.

Army career

Boomsma volunteered to join the

Royal Netherlands Army The Royal Netherlands Army ( nl, Koninklijke Landmacht) is the land branch of the Netherlands Armed Forces. Though the Royal Netherlands Army was raised on 9 January 1814, its origins date back to 1572, when the was raised – making the Dut ...

on 1 July 1898, and eventually became a

Colonel Colonel (abbreviated as Col., Col or COL) is a senior military officer rank used in many countries. It is also used in some police forces and paramilitary organizations. In the 17th, 18th and 19th centuries, a colonel was typically in charge ...

Infantry Infantry is a military specialization which engages in ground combat on foot. Infantry generally consists of light infantry, mountain infantry, motorized infantry & mechanized infantry, airborne infantry, air assault infantry, and m ...

Apeldoorn Apeldoorn (; Dutch Low Saxon: ) is a municipality and city in the province of Gelderland in the centre of the Netherlands. It is located about 60 km east of Utrecht, 60 km west of Enschede, 25 km north of Arnhem and 35 km south of Zwolle. The ...

from 1936-1939. During the mobilisation period in 1939, he was commander of Fortress Holland with the headquarters at Jaarsveld. After the invasion, he became the commander of the Ordedienst for "Gewest Veluwe" in the underground army. The main purpose of this underground army was to maintain contact with the Dutch government in exile in London by means of coded radio transmissions. Because of these activities he was imprisoned 3 times and questioned by the Gestapo. The first time from 28 March 1941 until 19 January 1942 at Scheveningen. The second time from 21 March 1942 until 16 May 1942, again at Scheveningen. The third and final time from October 1942, first imprisoned in Utrecht, then transferred to Vught and finally to

Neuengamme concentration camp Neuengamme was a network of Nazi concentration camps in Northern Germany that consisted of the main camp, Neuengamme, and more than 85 satellite camps. Established in 1938 near the village of Neuengamme in the Bergedorf district of Hamburg, t ...

near Hamburg, Germany where he died on 26 May 1943. His son, Evert Willem Boomsma, escaped to England on the 6 May 1941 in a stolen Fokker T8W seaplane landing at Broadstairs around 0830hrs. He actually carried with him the secret codes enabling London to communicate with the resistance. Willem remained in UK, serving with No. 320 (Netherlands) Squadron RAF for the remainder of the war and never saw his father again. He returned to the Netherlands in 1951.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Boomsma, Rein 1879 births 1943 deaths Association football forwards Dutch colonels Dutch footballers Dutch military personnel killed in World War II Netherlands international footballers People from Schagen People who died in Neuengamme concentration camp Royal Netherlands Army officers Royal Netherlands Army personnel of World War II Sparta Rotterdam players Footballers from North Holland