Western Eagles FC is an Australian football (soccer) club based in the western suburbs of Melbourne, Victoria.
The club's foundation meeting was held on 13 August 1950, at 93 Brighton Road, St. Kilda Victoria. The meeting decided that the club would be known as "Polonia Sports Club".
Polonia SC was one of the powerhouses of Victorian and Australian soccer in the 1950s and 1960s, before making a brief revival in the 1980s. Western Eagles is currently in Victorian State League Division 1 and plays its home games at Carrington Drive, Albion.
Club history
Foundation The foundation meeting was held on 13 August 1950 at 93 Brighton Road, St Kilda. The Meeting was an initiative of Zdzislaw Zabuski, Boleslaw Mlewski, Jacek Wyszogrodzki and the Polish Association in Victoria. The first committee was elected on 27 August 1950 and consisted of Wladyslaw Kowalik – President, Wiktor Kwiatkowski – Hon. Secretary, Franek Skowronski – Treasurer, Kazimierz Zielinski – Team Manager, Boleslaw Mlewski – Coach, Mieczyslaw Terlikowski – Team Manager. The meeting decided that the club would be named Polonia Sports Club.
The early years "Polonia" being Latin for Poland and the colours of white and red adopted. Polonia played its first game in September 1950, against JUST(Division 3 Champions and holders of the Australian World Cup) and defeated them 4:3. The club's first official league game took place at Williamstown Racecourse, on 7 April 1951 defeating Geelong United 3:1. It was the beginning of a meteoric climb and the beginning of the golden fifties and sixties for the club. Polonia became 4th Division Champions in their first season of existence in 1951, and 3rd Division Champions in 1952 winning the league without dropping a single point !John Punshon "http://www.ozfootball.net/ark/States/VIC/1952D3T.html" ozfootball.net In 1953 Polonia finished Division 2 Runners-up winning promotion to Division 1, and becoming World Cup Champions. This feat came within a run of 40 league matches unbeaten from 7 April 1951 to 30 May 1953. Players who starred in these early days and will be remembered by many were Stefan Czauderna and Boleslaw Zablocki, pivot for the Victorian team that played the touring England team in 1951 at the Melbourne Cricket Ground.Doug Butcher "http://melbournesoccer.blogspot.com/p/history-documents.html?m=1" Soccer Touring Teams to Australia Results 1950–1959, page 19 Stasek Galecki was the best left wing in the State of Victoria at the time, and Augus Dziura, a fine goal scoring center forward.
By 1954 Polonia had climbed into the First Division, losing just one league game in 3 years. It had taken only four years to get from the bottom to the top of the Victorian soccer pyramid structure.
The club reached the Dockerty Cup final for the first time in their history in 1955. The final played on 22 October, at Ascot Vale ended with a 1:1 draw to Hakoah, with the opening goal from Polonia's Peter Schipperheyn in the 51-minute. The side lost the Cup final replay 2:0 on 5 November.
During its early years the club was fortunate to secure services of Zdzislaw Zabuski, an engineer and businessman, and one of the club's most loyal supporters, who provided employment for many of the Polonia players. His knowledge of local conditions proved extremely useful. Mr Zabuski was elected club president in 1951.
Julian Chrzanowski was one of the club's first committee members and players. Mr Chrzanowski was a member of the Polish Resistance in World War II, before he was captured and send to Auschwitz concentration camp. He barely survived and was offered the chance to migrate to Australia or the United States. He arrived to Australia in 1949. He became the foundation member of Polonia. He played in the club's first game, and was a member of the championship teams of 1951 and 1952.
W.R.Thomas, President of Victorian Soccer Football Association, was one of Polonia's most influential and noteworthy supporters. He recalls in 1951, prior to taking the Victoria State team on tour of New Zealand, arranging with Polonia club president Zdzislaw Zabuski, to play a trial game against the newly formed Polonia Soccer Club. He was shocked when the lowly and newly formed fourth-division team soundly beat his Touring team 7:1. He then became one of the club's greatest followers. His son, Brian, was a playing member of Polonia's first team, representing the club in the 1954 season, debuting in Division One.
In 1956, during the Melbourne Olympic Games, Polonia officials met visiting members of the Polish Olympic Committee to discuss opportunities for Polish players to come to Melbourne. Around this time, Ted Lezon joined the club, while Dr. Charles Walker, then club president, maintained contacts in Poland. According to the source, a conversation during a gathering of Polish Olympic officials contributed to discussions about recruiting Polish footballers to the club.
Dr. Charles Walker was a Polish doctor born in Lviv, Poland. Dr Walker arrived in Australia just before the Second World War, and as a doctor was part of the Australian Army Force that saw combat against the Japanese in Papua New Guinea. Dr Walker began his work with the club in 1950 as a medical volunteer. By 1952 he was elected club president, a role he fulfilled in the following years; 1953, 1955–1956, 1958–1963.
On 13 June 1959, the first five of a long line of Polish stars arrived in Melbourne. They were Roch Dronia, Ryszard Szczepanski, Kaz Szygalski, Marian Gasior and Wieslaw Janczyk.
The highlight era
The highlight era in the club's history was the 1960s. In the season of 1960 and 1961 Polonia won back to back State League Championship, and became 1961 Dockerty Cup Winners, beating George Cross 4:2 in the Final on 7 October, at Olympic Park, with goals from Zygmund Gross, Zdzislaw Maruszkiewicz and a brace from Mieczyslaw Jurecki. This most successful side in the club's history also won the prestige "World Cup" tournament. Some of the most influential players of that time were; Mieczyslaw Jurecki, Wieslaw Janczyk, Wieslaw Gamaj, Zdzislaw Maruszkiewicz, Jerzy Dudon, Charlie Morks, Marian Gasior, Remo Guardiani, Ryszard Szczepanski, Roch Dronia, Kazimierz Szygalski, Zygmunt Gross, Henryk Gronowski, Ference Voros. President of Polonia SC at that time was Dr. Charles Walker. Our club also had representatives at international level. Players that had the honor to represent the Australian national team were George Pittoni, Lolly Vella and Robert Wemyss. Mieczyslaw Jurecki and Kazimierz Kowalec had the opportunity to play in the Australian "B" team.Greg Stock and Thomas Esamie http://www.ozfootball.net/ark/Socceroo/1964B.html There were a number of players that were Poland's national team representatives: Wieslaw Janczyk, Edward Jankowski, Zygmunt Gadecki, Norbert Gajda, Henryk and Robert Gronowski, Mieczyslaw Jurecki, Edmund Zientara.
In 1963 Polonia finished Runners-up in three competitions. In the Victorian State League, they were two points behind JUST, taking just 3 points in their final four games. The State League Leading Goalscorer that season was Edward Jankowski with 21 goals. That same year, Polonia lost in the Final of the Dockerty Cup to ... JUST, losing 2:4 at Olympic Park. The team also lost in the Final of Australia Cup, which was the first national club tournament in the country, initiated in 1962. The 1963 final was contested by two Melbourne clubs, with Slavia Melbourne beating Polonia 3:2 in a replay, after a scoreless draw in the first game. In the final replay, Des Palmer scored a hat-trick for the winners. On its way to the final Polonia faced Adelaide Juventus, George Cross, Brisbane Azzuri, and Sydney Prague in the semi-final, winning 3:1. Polonia did manage to win the 1963 Ampol Cup, pre-season competition, beating South Melbourne Hellas in the Final.Mark Boric "http://melbournesoccer.blogspot.com/2013/05/not-sure-what-sgt.html?m=1" Melbourne Soccer 23 May 2013The 1968 season saw Polonia finish second in the league behind Croatia with 26 points.
Polonia finished bottom of the 1976 season, with no teams relegated from the 1976 Victorian State League. South Melbourne Hellas, Footscray J.U.S.T., Mooroolbark United and Fitzroy United Alexander entered the National Soccer League in 1977. The team did reach the Dockerty Cup final, losing 0:2 to Footscray J.U.S.T.
In 1981, 20 years after winning their last league title, Polonia finally topped the Victorian Metropolitan League Division 1, clinching a place back in the State League after a 4-year absence. The outstanding players of that team were Leszek Dzielakowski, Richard Lipiarski, Marian Jaworski, John Wallace, Greg Gamanski, Brendon Lakic, Tadeusz Krysinski, Peter Chapnik, Richard Sekulski, Stan Klain, Michael Pichner, Dave Gibson and Alex Marshall. In charge of the team was Kaz Kowalec, a former great player himself.
Stefan Mila was awarded the 1983 Victorian State League Gold Medal – Player of the Year Award. Polonia finished the league in sixth place. On February 26, 1984 Polonia beat Box Hill 3:1 in The Buffalo Cup Final, which was a pre-season competition, sponsored by Buffalo Sports and played by State League teams. However, they finished a season-long title battle as runners-up to Morwell Falcons by three points. Polonia forward Janusz Przybyla was the State League's top Goalscorer netting 23 goals, despite been out injured for five games. On 4 November Polonia were defeated 3:2 after extra time in the 1984 Dockerty Cup Final against Fawkner.
In 1987 Maribyrnong Polonia won its third Victorian State Championship. Polonia started their season in the State League with an unbeaten run of results in their first seven league matches, starting with a 3:0 win on the opening day against Western Suburbs at Ralph Street Reserve. The team finished on top of the league with 42 points, three points ahead of Green Gully. The club's woes began the following season. Due to poor management of the club's finances and by overpaying most of its players, the club had no choice but to start selling its best players. From 1989 to 1992 Polonia suffered successive relegations.
Polonia has always been a force to contend with in Victorian Soccer circles and has won countless titles. Polonia won the Victorian Championship on three occasions, in the seasons of 1960, 1961 and 1987. During that era Polonia have had many rivalries. The rivalries have been with fellow State League sides Brunswick Zebras, St.Kilda Hakoah, Footscray JUST, George Cross and South Melbourne Hellas.
1998–2019 New Home Since 1998 Polonia is known as Western Eagles Football Club, changing its club name from Sunshine Heights, which the club has been known as from 1991, after the move to the club's new home at Albion,"http://www.football-chaos.com/2019/01/polish-club.html?m=1" football-chaos.com 15 January 2019 a privately-owned venue based in the western suburbs of Melbourne. The name "Polonia" was dropped as a requirement of the Victorian Soccer Federation to shed their ethnic appeal, in 1992.