Western Eagles

Foundation

With the conclusion of the Second World War, many Poles did not want to remain in or return to their homeland for various reasons and as such made the decision to emigrate to Australia and begin a new life for themselves and their families. They were ex-servicemen and women, displaced persons, etc.

As Poles have done for countless generations, they began to form various organisations to uphold their old traditions and their identities, to alleviate their homesickness, finding solace with their own kind in a strange and at times inhospitable new land. Sport has always been a major enjoyment to Poles and as such a Polish Soccer Club was inevitable.

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 !^[1] 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.^[2] 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 the club's most loyal supporter, 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 Polonia's most influential and noteworthy supporters. He recalls in 1951, prior of taking the Victoria State team on tour of New Zealand, arranging with Polonia club President Zdzislaw Zabuski, to play a trail 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 great followers, even with his son, Brian, was a playing member of Polonia first team, representing the club in the 1954 season, debuting in Division One.

In 1956, the year of the Melbourne Olympic Games, Polonia officials took the opportunity to approach visiting membersof the Polish Olympic Committee who agreed to allow some of Poland's best players to come to Melbourne. Polonia was fortunate to have amongst its ranks, the dynamic figure of Ted Lezon, a person gifted with explosive energy and controversial temperament which gave the Club plenty of drive and lift and who to this day is still an influence to the present. In 1956, Ted Lezon was entertaining officials of the Polish Olympic Teams and jokingly said "What about Polonia getting some top class players from Poland", that remark set the ball rolling, Dr Charles Walker, who was Club president at the time, had influential connections in Poland and the joke became reality.

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 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, 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, were the 1960s. In the season of 1960 and 1961 Polonia won back to back State League Championship, and becoming 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.^[3] There was 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, 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. 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.^[4]The 1968 season saw Polonia finish second in the league behind Croatia with 26 points.

Polonia finished bottom of the 1976 season, with no teams were relegated from the 1976 Victorian State League, with South Melbourne Hellas, Footscray J.U.S.T., Mooroolbark United and Fitzroy United Alexander entered the National Soccer League in 1977. The team although 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 into 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 a 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-point 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 over the years. 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 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,^[5] a privately own venue based in the western suburbs of Melbourne. The "Polonia" being dropped as a requirement of the Victorian Soccer Federation to shed their ethnic appeal in 1992.

One of the darkest chapters in the club's history was the disastrous merger venture with Melbourne City. For reasons not known or understood to this day by many supporters, the club's committee made a decision to merge with and compete as Melbourne City in the Victorian State League Division 1 in the 1999 season. The 2000 season due to the legacy of that merger Western Eagles found themselves in the Victorian Provisional League Division 3. With new club President Darren Bednarski, who embed new life to the club and with the appointment of Leszek Dzielakowski as head coach, the club started a brief revival with three promotions in five years, rising from Provisional League Division 3 to Victorian State League Division 3, where the club finished in 8th position in the 2005 season, under coach Milorad Gelic. This was the first year the club was in charge by the new club President – Tadeusz Ziegler. In this period the club won its first league Championship in 16 years, topping the Victorian Provisional League Division 2 in 2003 on 46 points – 5 points ahead of Ballarat. Polonia supporters gathered in numbers for fixtures against Avondale Heights, Ballarat, Brimbank, Geelong Rangers, Sydenham Park and Werribee City during the 2000-2006 timeframe. Players who were most involved in that period were; Darren Bednarski, Ivan Devcic, Paul Dzielakowski, Wojciech Galon, Kamil Gamanski, Andrew Gurman, Konrad Leski, Lukasz Lewinski, Adam Mostowski, Alex Samayoa, Marek Szczepanski and Slawomir Zientara.

The 2006 season began with the departures of many first squad players from previous seasons, the like of Slawomir Zientara, Blerton Belica, Kamil Gamanski, Nikolce Simovski, Pero Prodanovic, Marcin Goralczyk, Andrew Gurman, Alex Samayoa and Dominic Murdaca, all moving to other clubs or retiring from football, and with the move of head coach Milorad Galic to second division club Westgate, the 2006 season was disastrous. The start of the season saw a first matchday humiliation to La Trobe University. On April 1, Western Eagles began the season with a 3:2 away victory against La Trobe, only to find out few days later the FFV awarded the win to La Trobe University 3-0, as Western Eagles fielded an ineligible player (red card from previous season). The club was hit by crisis after crisis, coaching changes and a player walkout, which saw the club relegated back to Provisional League.

Wojciech Laskowski was elected club President in 2010, the year the club was celebrating its 60th year of existence. The team coached by Sinisa Opacic became Provisional League 2 champions, topping the league table with 44 points. On 6 August 2011 the club organised a 60th Anniversary Gala where the Eagles had over 200 supporters gather, with former greats and the current team members at the Polish Sport and Recreation Centre. They spoke about legends of years past, relived the glory years and discuss the current club situation.

Following the revival of the club in 2000, the club had a dynamic and controversial figure amongst its ranks, a former player himself, Mark Szpakolski. The likes of Joe Gorczynski, Janusz Przybyla, Leszek Dzielakowski and Wladyslaw Pejko, who were supporting the club by providing constructive and influence to new members involved. In addition, the supportive role of Steve Janus, one of club’s major sponsors for more than 15 years and club President in 2008-2009.

The club's head coach for the 2013 and 2014 season was Srecko Baresic-Nikic, a former professional player himself in Europe. He, together with the club committee and players, planned to bring Western Eagles back on the Victorian football map. The 2013^[6] season Eagles finished 5th on the table with 32 points, and still manage to win promotion to Division 3 due to the new competition format for state level football in Victoria, ending the season with a 3:1 win over league champions Corio. The team also had a solid run in the 2013 edition of the FFV State Knockout Cup were the club reached Round 5, going down to Preston Lions 1:2, after an entertaining game at Albion. The team played throughout the 2013 season facing many injury problems, giving a chance to play many of the club's youth players, one of them being Thomas Deng,^[7] who in 2014 signed with the A-League Club Melbourne Victory and made his first international appearance for Australia Under-20 side. Deng made his senior football debut for Western Eagles against Williamstown. Kacper Hubiak became the club's top goalscorer for the fourth consecutive season, with 15 goals, first player to do so in the club's 63-year history. Despite a solid start to the 2014 season where Eagles were sitting in second position in the table after Round 8 with 16 points, the team had a disappointing end to the year losing the last 4 games, including a crushing 8:1 defeat in round 20 to the league champions Essendon Royals. It was the third biggest league defeat in the club's history.

At the beginning of the 2016 season the club committee and its junior players, was presented with a cheque from Hyundai Australia as part of the "Goals For Grassroots" program. The presentation took place at Etihad Stadium before the A-League fixture between Melbourne Victory and Western Sydney Wanderers. A dismal run of form saw the team slip to the bottom of the league table with only 6 points from its opening 10 games of the 2016 season. The Eagles rally in the second half of the season to finished in 10th place with 23 points. The side's relegation was confirmed by a lost in the relegation playoff to FC Strathmore 1:0, by a way of a penalty kick in the first half, on 24 September, at Paisley Park.^[8]

On 15 July 2017 the club's 1500th league game celebration took place at Albion. On this historic occasion the team under Daniel Krasic responded and made the club proud with a 2:1 win over Altona North, courtesy of a Matthew Lodkowski and Jack Karyakos goals. On the day the club's oldest player Stefan Czauderna (90) who walked out with our youngest junior player, lead the senior team out to the pitch. Members of local government and Brimbank Council, Honorable Consul for the Republic of Poland – Dr George J. Luk, Secretary of the SPK Victoria – Bogdan Platek, club members, former players and coaches, sponsors and supporters, all gathered to celebrate the club's achievement. Polonia finished the season in 8th place.

The club appointed Patrick Mangion as the new coach during the 2018 pre-season, who replaced Danny Krasic in mid March. After a 1:1 draw against Altona North in round 4, Eagles won nine games in a row. During this time they secured first position and held it for the remainder of the season. Western Eagles managed to secure the State League 4 Championship of the 2018 season after only 18 rounds.^[9] Eagles claimed the title in front of their home fans on 4 August, beating Truganina Hornets 2:1, having come from being 1:0 down: Matthew Lodkowski equalized in the 69th minute of the game and Stefan Dimeski scored the winner three minutes before full-time. Matthew Lodkowski became the leading goalscorer in State League Division 4 with 32 goals for the season, surpassing Janusz Przybyla tally of 23 (State League), and making him Western Eagles highest goalscorer in a single season. Western Eagles won the 2018 Division 4 season with a nine-point margin.

2020–2025 75 Years

On October 2019, the club announced Steve Iosifidis.^[10] as the new senior coach for the 2020 season. Iosifidis a former professional player, back-to-back NSL titles winner with South Melbourne under Ange Postecoglou. All Victorian football competitions in 2020 were cancelled due to the impacts from the COVID-19 pandemic in Australia. The 2021 season Eagles were sitting in second place, just two points behind league leaders Upfield, when a decision was taken and the Victorian football season once again was being disrupted due to the impacts from the COVID-19 pandemic in Australia, with the season being suspended from August 2021 from government-imposed lockdowns, with promotion and relegation suspended.^[11]

The 2023 season was an extremely tight one, with only 5 points separating second and sixth at the conclusion of the regular season. Western Eagles stormed home with 6 wins from its final 10 matches to finish fourth, only four points behind the runners-up Craigieburn City.

On 7 April 2024, it was announced that Legia Warsaw Soccer School is coming to Western Eagles FC in July and run a week-long camp. After months of hard work behind the scenes between Legia Warsaw, Western Eagles FC and Polonia Sports Club Sydney, with help from Marcin Góralczyk and Kamil Siwik, Poland’s biggest soccer club will visit Polish Club Albion and run a week-long camp for 50 young players. Legia send two coaches, Tomasz Babel and Szymon Lesiakowski to lead the July 1-5 camp. Western Eagles committee headed by Peter Marmura would work close with Adam Biziuk - President of Polonia Sports Club from Sydney, partnering together to ensure that the camp could run in Melbourne and Sydney as a first of many more to come. That season Western Eagles went on to win the 2024 Victorian State League Division 3, winning promotion to State League Division 2 for the first time since 1991. The Eagles under coach Paul Falzon finished the season four points clear of Williamstown SC and Altona North.^[12]Western Eagles lost to St Kilda 0-1 in the 2024 Victorian Men's State League Division 3 Grand Final, on 14 September at Bundoora.

Western Eagles played their first game in the State League Second Division on 22 March 2025, at home to Altona East Phoenix, and lost 0:3. After losing first three games of the league season, despite these setbacks, Eagles overcame their winless start to eventually achieve some commendable results, in particular a 1–0 win over Lalor United and finished in 6th place with 31 points. Western Eagles Football Club marked a monumental milestone on Saturday, 20 September 2025 celebrating its 75th anniversary in an event attended by 300 people at Albion. The 75th Anniversary celebration was an unforgettable evening filled with music, food, trophies, and heartfelt speeches. Past players, club legends, families, and supporters all come together to honor 75 incredible years of history and community spirit. On the night, Western Eagles All-time team was announced to honour the best club football players of the 75th anniversary. The team was consisted of an twenty-four-member side, with two goalkeeper, seven defenders, eight midfielders, and seven forwards. Additional awards for coach, team manager and club physio were also announced. ^[13]

2026-current

League

Women

Dockerty Cup

1963 Australia Cup Final

17 seasons

• Peter Czapnik (1975–1991)
• Lukasz Lewinski (1998, 2000–2008, 2010–2011, 2013–2014, 2016–2018)
• Matthew Kowalski (2003–2016, 2018–2019, 2021)

16 seasons

• Andrew Czapnik (1969–1977, 1980–1986)

14 seasons

• Richard Lipiarski (1975–1977, 1979–1989)
• Maciej Slodyczka (2005–2010, 2012–2019)

13 seasons

• Edward Marmur (1965–1977)

12 seasons

• Michael Olinowski (1964–1975)
• Wojciech Galon (2001–2006, 2010, 2012–2016)
• Charles Mizzi (2008–2019)

11 seasons

• Ron Horfiniak (1971–1980, 1983)
• Brendon Lakic (1978–1983, 1987–1989, 1994–1995)
• Kamil Gamanski (1993–1998, 2001–2005)
• Robert Chelchowski (2009–2016, 2018–2019, 2021)

10 seasons

• Henryk Jakubowski (1951–1960)
• Czeslaw Plaskota (1964–1973)
• Zbigniew Szalinski (1968, 1970–1978)
• Marian Jaworski (1971–1977, 1981–1983)
• Leszek Dzielakowski (1978–1983, 1985–1986, 1988–1989)
• Kacper Hubiak (2009-2016, 2024-2025)

9 seasons

• Wieslaw Janczyk (1959–1961, 1963–1968)
• Kazimierz Kowalec (1964–1972)
• Czeslaw Plaskota (1964–1972)