Croydon FC

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.

History

Early years

The club entered the 3rd division of the SASFA competition in 1952 and won the championship in its first year. They recruited 3 key players from their Polish rival being Izydor Sierocinski, Jerry Demczuk and Stanislaw Czerkawski for the clearance fee of £2.

They remained unbeaten throughout 1952 with the following statistics: 136 goals for, 18 against (aggregate). Stan Czerkawski scored 41 goals that season.

They 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 for Polonia. The club recruited John Kerr from Port Thistle and 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. John Kerr scored 36 goals and led the club scoring for the next 3 years. Polonia then finished 4th in 1956, runners-up in both 1957 and 1958, and then 4th again in 1959 before a decline commenced.