Croydon Kings
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| Full name | Polonia Adelaide Sports Club Inc |
|---|---|
| Nickname(s) | Polonia, Kings |
| Founded | 1950 Polonia Adelaide SC 1993 Croydon Kings |
| Ground | Polonia Reserve, Croydon Park |
| Capacity | 2,000 |
| Chairman | Angelo Colangelo |
| Manager | Mark Brazzale |
| League | NPL South Australia |
| 2014 | NPL SA, 3rd Finals Series, Champions |
| Website | Club home page |
Croydon Kings is an Australian semi-professional soccer club in Adelaide, South Australia. Croydon Kings currently competes in the National Premier Leagues South Australia. They play home games at Polonia Reserve at Croydon in Adelaide's inner northern suburbs. They are one of the most successful sides in South Australian soccer. The club's ethnic background is Polish Australian and the club was founded as the Polonia Adelaide Sports Club on 16 June 1950 by Alek Cmielewski and Karol Metanomski.
The club entered the 3rd division of the SASFA competition in 1952 and won the championship in its first year. They remained unbeaten throughout the year and are the only team in history to have done so. In the same year Polonia became the first 3rd division team to win the Association Cup after beating 1st division sides Juventus and Sturt before beating another 1st division side Beograd 3–1 in the final. In 1954 while still in the 2nd division Polonia created another piece of history when they beat Juventus 3–1 in the final of the Association Cup to become the only team to have the cup twice while outside the 1st division. 1955 was another great year. In its first season in Division One Polonia took out another Premiership, losing only 2 of its 18 matches. Polonia also reached the Cup Final in 1955. The next 3 years saw Polonia finish 4th in 1956, runners-up in both 1957 and 1958, and then 4th again in 1959 before a decline commenced.
In 1960–9th, then 7th in 1961 and 6th in 1962. In 1962 Polonia imported four players from Poland-Katolik, Kreft (Edmund left Polonia in the 70's and assisted Adelaide City in entering the NSL with great success), Gumowski and Szczurzynski. Despite a minor revival in 1963, when the club finished fourth, Polonia was finally relegated to the Second Division in 1964 when it finished last. In many respects relegation in 1964 proved a blessing in disguise. It took the opportunity to completely rebuild its Senior team. In 1965, it won the John Martin Cup and bounced back again into the First Division and won the Jaxen Cup-the Second Division Premiership. In 1966 Polonia welcomed the arrival of Typek, Manka, Nowak and Paprotny from Poland which assisted us in winning the Federation Cup, the Bailetti Cup and the Ampol night series! What a year! The former Division 1 player with Gwardia Warsaw Eugene Nowak at the age of 30 was appointed the player-coach of Polonia. A number of Polonia players including Eugene Novak reveled in playing against the mighty Manchester United on 27/6/67 against the likes of Denis Law, Bobby Charlton Nobby Stiles and Brian Kidd. Eugene won the West End Medal and the club added to its trophy cabinet this year with the club winning the Savings Bank Shield in 1967 and the Ampol Cup. Led by Eugene in 1968 Polonia went one further winning the Federation Cup, the Junior Cup, the Savings Bank Shield and the Singlehurst Shield then in 1969 the club slumped to 7th in the League.
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