Polonia Bydgoszcz

BKS Polonia Bydgoszcz was founded on May 14, 1920, by Edmund Szyc, a sports enthusiast and official of Warta Poznan. Szyc, who had come to Bydgoszcz from Poznan in the early spring of 1920, wanted to create a sports organization with a patriotic spirit, based on Polish Army soldiers garrisoned in the city. The hues of Polonia were white-red-green (to commemorate Polish flag, plus green, the traditional colour of Warta Poznan’s jerseys).

In the Second Polish Republic, Polonia Bydgoszcz was one of the largest sports organizations in the nation. It had several departments, such as football, track and field, boxing, ice hockey, cycling, basketball, handball and volleyball. Among most notable athletes of that time were: Stanislaw Zakrzewski (high jumper), Klemens Biniakowski (runner, who participated in the 1928 Summer Olympics), Feliks Wiecek (cyclist, winner of the 1928 Tour de Pologne). Polonia’s football team were four times champions of Polish Pomerania, but failed to win promotion to the Ekstraklasa.

After World War II, Polonia was reactivated on October 21, 1945. In 1947, its football team once again won local championships. On May 22, 1946, the speedway department was formed, but in 1949, the so-called First Polonia was dissolved by the Communist authorities, who disliked its prewar, bourgeoisie roots.

In 1949-57, Polonia Bydgoszcz did not exist. On May 24, 1957, BKS Polonia and ZS Gwardia (sports organization supported by Milicja Obywatelska) merged into Milicyjny KS Polonia. The new club took over the traditions of the 1920 organization and quickly emerged as one of the most important sports clubs of the country. Former Gwardia Bydgoszcz was a powerful organization, with a top class football team (promoted to Ekstraklasa in 1953), while its speedway team was the 1955 Champion of Poland. Furthermore, several Gwardia’s track and fielders took part in the 1952 Olympic Games in Helsinki. In the early 1950s, Gwardia had as many as 17 departments. Its most famous sports personality of that time was tennis player Jadwiga Jedrzejowska.

The newly established Militia Sports Club Polonia Bydgoszcz took over Gwardia’s hues (red - white - blue), to commemorate the colors of the French Revolution, and to symbolize the new, Communist regime of Poland. In 1962, the name of the club was changed into Bydgoszcz Sports Club (BKS) Polonia, to be changed into Guards Sports Club (GKS) Polonia in 1974. Finally, in 1990, the name Bydgoszcz Sports Club Polonia was returned.

In the late 1980s, GKS Polonia had over 1500 members, including 700 athletes. In 1990, the police authority (former Milicja Obywatelska) withdrew its financial support of the club. As a result, the club was supported by the city government. In 1992, the football team was closed to return in 1994, and ice hockey department was separated from the organization. In the same year, the speedway team of Polonia won Polish Championship.

By the late 1990s, Polonia returned to its former glory. Speedway team, with Tomasz Gollob, was three times Polish champion (1998, 2000, 2002), table tennis team was among the best in the country, and football team won promotion to the third level.

In 2003, local authorities dissolved Polonia Bydgoszcz. The departments of the former organization created their own teams, such as Zuzlowy Klub Sportowy (Speedway Sports Club) Polonia, and the traditions of BKS Polonia are continued by the football team, called Klub Pilkarski (Football Club) Polonia.

• 1920 - Creation of Klub Sportowy "Polonia" (Sport's Club "Polonia")
• 1946 - Creation of motorcycle section in Polonia
• 1948 - First start in Team Speedway Polish Championship
• 1951
  • First start in the top division (First League)
  • First medal in Polish Championship: Zbigniew Raniszewski - bronze in IMP
• 1955 - First Team Polish Champion title
• 1959 - Rider Mieczysław Połukard - first Polish rider to ride in the Individual World Championship Final
• 1968 - First ride in Relegation playoffs
• 1982 - First Criterium of Polish Speedway Leagues Aces
• 1985 - Mieczysław Połukard death on track
• 1991 - Tony Rickardsson and Peter Karlsson - first foreigners in Team
• 2007 - Team was relegated from the top division first time in history

Polonia Bydgoszcz since 27 October 2006 is Joint stock company (pl: spółka akcyjna or S.A.).

• board of directors:
  • President: Leszek Tillinger
• supervisory board:
  • President: Bartosz Rakoczy
  • Members: Bogdan Sawarski and Roman Woźniak
• annual general meeting:
  • 80 % - BTŻ Polonia Bydgoszcz (Voluntary association)
  • 20 % - City Bydgoszcz

Łopaczewski and Mazur was started only in PC Junior Team and PC Junior Pair

• Statistics in 2007 Speedway Ekstraliga[2]

Pos	Name	Match	Heats	1st	2nd	3rd	4th	E	F	X	T	Pts	Bon	Total	Joker			CMA	Home	Away
13	Andreas Jonsson	11	58	18	23	11	4	1	1			115	6	121	8	2.017	11.00	8.07	2.065	1.963
26	Jonas Davidsson	9	41	11	9	11	8	1			1	62	7	69		1.683	7.67	6.73	1.400	1.952
29	Rafał Okoniewski	15	78	17	22	21	12	4			2	116	12	128		1.641	8.53	6.56	1.973	1.341
33	Krystian Klecha	12	45	8	10	15	9	2	1			59	9	68		1.511	5.67	6.04	1.667	1.278
36	Emil Saifutdinov	9	41	6	10	13	9		3			51	9	60		1.463	6.67	5.85	1.833	1.174
37	Krzysztof Buczkowski	13	56	12	13	13	14	2		2		77	6	83	4	1.446	6.38	5.79	1.586	1.296
38	Michał Szczepaniak	15	70	7	24	14	23	1		1		83	15	98		1.400	6.53	5.60	1.632	1.125
41	Mariusz Staszewski	11	42	6	6	20	9	1				50	7	57		1.357	5.18	5.43	1.632	1.130
42	Marcin Jędrzejewski	13	49	5	1	18	13			1	1	55	11	66		1.347	5.08	5.39	1.762	1.036

Polonia Stadium.

The stadium is located on ulica Sportowa 2 (Sports Street). It contains 20,000 seats. The track is 348 metres long and has a granite surface. The track record was made by Tomasz Gollob (60.11 sec on June 20, 1999).

• Speedway in Poland
• Bydgoszcz

• History of Polonia Bydgoszcz (in Polish)

• Polski Official website
• Polski Official website of voluntary association Polonia