Notteroy

Tønsberg sits on the water in Vestfold, and its handball is split with the island of Nøtterøy across the strait, where the town's club plays out of the Nøtterøyhallen. The organisation behind the team, Nøtterøy Idrettsforening, began in 1917 as a ski club, took the name Nøterø Sportsklubb two years later, and became Nøtterøy Idrettsforening in 1939 after folding in Nesbryggen Idrettsforening. Handball is one branch of that wider body.

The men's team has spent the past decade and a half moving between the top flight and the 1. Divisjon below it. Relegation after the 2013/14 season sent them down; they won the 1. Divisjon in 2016/17 to go back up, only to finish bottom of the top division in 2017/18 and drop straight back out. A third-place finish in 2018/19 brought a playoff against Haslum HK, and when the pandemic cut short the 2020/21 season, third place in the table was still enough to send Nøtterøy up again for 2021/22. That stay lasted one year before another relegation returned them to the second tier, where they have since had to fight simply to stay there.

Robert Hedin, a Swedish player of some standing who had also coached the Norwegian national side, was in charge for the promotion push of 2021. Among those to come through the club, Petter Øverby left the biggest mark elsewhere: he played for Nøtterøy between 2012 and 2015 before going on to the Norwegian national team and to THW Kiel.