A Brief History Of Radomiak
In 1910, when football leagues had been established in other European countries for a number of years, the R*ssian rulers of Poland gave permission for the formation of the 'Radomskie Towarztstwo Sportowe' (lit: The Sporting Fellowship of Radom). By this, time Milan had been crowned champions of Italy on three separate occassions (1901, 1906, 1907) whilst Poland would have to wait until 1921 to see Cracovia Krak?w crowned as its first Champions. The newly formed RTS was made up of five sections, namely football, cycling, tennis, ice skating and gymnastics. On 18th December of the same year, the Polish national side lost 1:0 to Bulgaria in their first ever international game. It was a year before the footballers of RKS played their first game - a 5:2 loss to Stella Warszawa. These were the beginnings of the club now known as RKS Radomiak.
Important Dates
| 1921 | RTS is brought back into existence following World War I and the football section breaks away. RTS takes on the name Radomskie Kolo Sportowe (lit: The Sporting Circle of Radom). |
| 1922 | The footballers of RKS gain entry into the Warsaw OZPN and a new stadium is constructed in Stary Ogr?d. |
| 1925 | RKS promoted to the A Class. |
| 1929 | RKS win their first A Class title and a chance to progress to the Polish First Division. Unfortunately, the chance goes begging with defeats against Naprz?d Lipiny (2:3(h), 1:3(a)) and Podg?rze Krak?w (1:4(h), 1:6(a)). |
| 1930 | RKS create the first ice hockey side in Radom which plays its first game against Prokocim Krak?w. The footballers have some success, finishing second in the Kieleckie OZPN but again failing in the play-offs for entry into the First Division (RKS-Naprz?d Lipiny 2:3, 2:3; RKS-Podg?rze Krak?w 5:3, 1:0). |
| 1935 | The start of a long period of crisis at the club. |
| 1939 | World War II breaks out and after the G*rman occupation all sporting clubs and organisations are outlawed. This ruling does not however stop players from the clubs of Radom (among them RKS, Bron, Czarni, Kolejorz and the Jewish clubs Jutrznia, Nordyja, Haopel Barkohoba and Makabi) from meeting together and organising secret games in the countryside around Radom. |
| 1941 | The school team SKS is formed by Jerzy Czach?w, one of the Czach?w brothers who would go on to have a huge impact on sport in Radom. On the 4th June SKS play Polonia Okecie Warszawa in front of 7000 spectators and come away with a 3:1 victory thanks to goals from Aleksander Czahor(2) and Stanislaw Szepanski. The game takes place at the ground on ulica Kozienicka, the location of the current Radomiak stadium and is remembered by those win attendance for a particularly poigniant moment before kick off when the players of both sides exchanged gifts. A bouquet of red and white flowers (the national colours of Poland) was presented to the Warsaw side and they in turn gave the players from Radom a shield inscribed with a portrait of Matka Boska Czestochowska, an eagle and the text "Pod Twa Obrone" ("Under Your Protection"). It has to be remembered that at this time Poland was under Nazi occupation and such overt symbols of Polish nationalism were likely to get the participants into serious trouble with the occupying authorities. The SKS team was: Aleksander Czachor, Marian Czachor, Jerzy Czachor, Tadeusz Rusinowicz (captain), Stanislaw Szczepanski, Jerzy Gniewek, Marian Ciupa, Jan Kilian, Zygmundt Drela, Janusz Popielarski, Tadeusz Zielinski. The return game, played a week later sees a 3:3 draw in Warsaw (SKS goals: M.Czachor, A.Czachor, J.Gniewek). |
| 1945 | RKS comes back into being after World War II, winning their third Regional Championship and hence another chance to advance into the First Division through the play-offs. Promotion again proves elusive, the play-offs bringing a victory against CKS Czestochowa (RKS-CKS Czestochowa 1:1, 3:2) and defeats against Widzew Lodz (RKS-Widzew L?dz 0:4,0:0) and Sygnal Lublin (RKS-Sygnal Lublin 2:1, 1:3). |
| 1945 | On 7th April, KS Bata and SKS merge forming KS Radomiak and the first game in the history of RKS is played - a 1:0 defeat at the hands of city rivals Bron. Radomiak team: Ciupa-Adamczyk, Drela, Gibaszewski, Rusinowicz-Kalinski, Klimkowski, Szczepanski, A.Czachor-Gniewek, M.Czachor. The club went on to win the Warsaw OZPN title. |
| 1946 | Radomiak again take the crown of regional champions and progress in the Polish Club Championship, beating Lublianka 5:0 in the quarter finals but losing out 1:3 to widzew Lodz at the semi-final stage. |
| 1947 | 15th June Marian Czachor makes his internationbal debut in a 2:1 defeat at the hands of Romania. Radomiak also take part in the newly formed Polish league, finishing 5th in group two of the second division. |
| 1948 | Another unsuccessful run out in the play-offs for a first Division place: Radomiak-Lechia Gdansk 1:1,0:3; Radomiak-Szombierki Bytom 0:3,2:2; Radomiak-Skra Czestochowa 3:0,2:3; Radomiak-PTC Pabianice 9:3,3:0; |
| 1949 | Radomiak advance to Division II South and finish in a creditable 3rd place (Pld 18, W8, D5, L5). |
| 1950-56 | Radomiak play with differing fortunes (although never with TOO much success) under the names Zwiazkowiec and Wl?kniarz. |
| 1952 | Relegation from Division II due to League reorganisation. |
| 1953-57 | Wl?kniarz Radom take part in the inter-counties league. |
| 1954 | RKS are thrown into crisis again and are relegated to the B Class of Polish football. |
| 1958 | The club changes its name back to Radomiak. They immediately return to the A Class where they stay until 1969, playing in the Kielce Regional League. |
| 1960 | 50 year aniversary of the formation of the club. |
| 1964 | Two members of the Radomiak youth team are called up to represent their age group in the national side. Jerzy Osuch takes part in a tournament in Holland whilst Tadeusz Mosiolek plays in a tournament in Cannes. |
| 1967 | RKS and KS Radomiak merge forming RKS Radomiak, a club following the traditions of RKS. |
| 1969 | Promotion to the inter-counties league is followed by relegation in the same season. |
| 1972 | Promoted again to the inter-counties league, Radomiak have the chance to advance into the II Division. The last game of the season sees them beat G?rnik Radlin 3:1 in Radom and secure promotion in front of 10000 jubilant fans. The team lined up as follows: Bolesta-W.Jaskiewicz, Szych, Kalita, Srodowski(70 Mrozek)-Waloszczyk, Chec, Dygas-Glowacki (55 Pejs), Osuch, M.Jaskiewicz. Goals Jerzy Osucha, Maciej Jaskiewicz, Ryszarda Chec. |
| 1975 | Relegation from the II Division following a 0:2 defeat by Sparta Zabrze in the play-offs. |
| 1977 | Promotion to II Division is again decided on a last day of the season. Radomiak have home advantage against Lublinianka but leave it late, sealing victory with the only goal of the game, an 87th minute penalty scored by Stanislaw Kosiec. Radomiak team: Fronczak-W.Jaskiewicz, Kosiec, Kalita, R?zalski-Mrozek, Zielinski (46 M.Jaskiewicz), Zgutka (75 Gygas),Strzeminski, Wojdaszka, Turon. |
| 1984 | Historic promotion to Division I. |
| 1985 | Relegation from Division I after only one season. |
| 1989 | Relegation from II Division. |
| 1993 | Promotion to II Division. |
| 1995 | Relegation from II Division. Ryszard Mrozek is voted the best player in the clubs 85 year history. |
| 1996 | Relegation to IV Division. |
| 2000 | Promotion to III Division. Radomiak play a friendly against the Polish National side. "The Greens" concede 7 but do manage one consolation goal from Zawadzki. |
| 2001 | 22nd February sees Radomiaks 90th Anniversary celebrations taking place. The numbers of ex-players, trainers and officials of Radomiak are boosted by the great and the good of Polish football including, amongst others, Wlodzimierz Lubanski, Jerzy Engel, Edward Klejdinst and Tomasz Koter. |
| 2002 | Relegation to Division IV. |
| 2003 | Promotion to Division II as champions with a record of (Pld 34 W 22 D 9 L 3 F 84 A 25 Pts 75). |
| 2004 | RKS finish second in Division III and gain a chance of promotion to Division II through the play-offs. A 3:1 home victory against Tloki Gorzyce (goals: Bogumil Sobieska 25, Maciej Lesisz 29, Daniel Barzynski 47) seemed to set up the away leg nicely for an RKs victory, but it turned out to be nail biting stuff with Tloki taking a 2:0 lead on 84 minutes and looking like they would secure their Division II status by virtue of away goals. Bogumil Sobieska however, had other ideas and sent the travelling fans wild with a strike in the 87th minute which effectively took RKS into Division II. |
| 2005 | RKS did not have an entirely happy return to Division II. There were many changes during the close season (including Jerzy Engel Jnr leaving) and by the end of the autumn season all looked lost as they were well adrift at the bottom of the table. Step in Mieczyslaw Broniszewski who took over the managers job in January and managed to guide Radomiak out of the automatic relegation spots and give them at least a chance of keeping their Division II status in the play-offs. In a repeat of the previous seasons play-off they were drawn to play Tloki Gorzyce. A 0:0 away from home set RKS up for a fantastic 3:0 victory (goals: Maciej Terlecki 7, 61, Grazvydas Mikulenas 85) in front of 8000 fans at Struga. |
MARIAN CZACHOR born 1924 CLUBS: SKS Radom, Radomiak Radom Marian Czahor played for Radomiak from 1945 to 1958. He is the only Radomiak player to have one an Polish international cap (19.07.1947 - Saturday, Kick off 18:00 Poland - Romania 1:2 in Warsaw). He took part in the first post-war Polish Campionship in 1946, when Radomiak lost in the semi-fianls to LKS L?dz (RKS - L?dz 1:3), effectively finishing in the top 8 teams in Poland. Between 1947-48 he played in the Radomiak side wich narrowly failed to gain promotion to the I Division through the play-offs. From 1949-52 he was with Radomiak in the II Division and the II Division in 1953. MARIAN CZACHOR was born into a family with a big sporting tradition. He inherited his love of sport from his father, a well known pre-war employee of "Czarnych", and from his older brother Ryszard, who started his footballing career with the same club. In the years 1937-39 he and his brothers Jerzy and Aleksandr formed the nucleus of the school team which brought fear into the hearts of even the youth teams of professional clubs. In 1941, having finished school the brothers formed SKS (szkolny klub sportowy, lit: the School Sports Club). In 1943 they organised the now legendary SKS - Polonia-Okecie Warszawa game in which SKS triumphed 3:1. He was part of the side which won the Warsaw regional Championship in 1945 and the Radom Championship in 1946. He started out in defense but moved out to the left wing where he stayed for the rest of his career. In 1969 he was voted the 3rd best sportsman to have originated in Radom and in 1995 he finished second in a poll of the most popular RKS Radomiak players organised for the clubs 85th anniversary.
