Polonia's roots stretch back to 1973 when Maciek Behnke and Henio Paulinski, members of the Polish YMCA, founded a volleyball club. The club resourced players from the Association and the Polish scouting movement, and under the name of 'Polish YMCA', entered the English National League's Division 3. The team, initially led by Boleslaw Lesiecki (General Secretary for the Polish YMCA), gradually developed and progressed through the divisions recruiting new players from the youth nurtured from scouting. During this time, a second Polish volleyball team, 'Gryf', was playing in the National League Division 1. Andy Mackiewicz, a player from Gryf, was invited to coach Polish YMCA, beginning a link between the two clubs. In 1976, Andy Lowczynowski became the new coach for the YMCA and coached the team for the next 5 years. Through his influence the club was to become one of the most long-lived and successful sides in English volleyball

In 1978 Gryf lost many of its players through age and retirement and decided to merge with Polish YMCA forming two teams; Polonia Gryf, who continued to play in Division 1, and Polonia II who played in Division 3 South East. From 1979 to 1982, sponsorship from the YMCA prompted the teams to change their names once again to Polish YMCA, but in 1982/83, the club reverted back to Polonia and has remained so ever since.

Throughout the 80's, Polonia had a variety of coaches starting with Andy Lokiec, ex- Polish International junior setter at the Montreal Olympics. From 1982-87, James Tytko took over the coaching mantle in what was to be one of Polonia's most successful periods in English volleyball. He led the team to two consecutive English League titles in 1984/85 and 1985/86, and second place in 1986/87. Edek Len and then Olek Jeuszkiewicz replaced Tytko from 1987 to 1990, but as many older players retired, Polonia slipped gradually to 10th in the League.

The team's resurgance was swift however, and under the leadership of Slavek Mitunicwicz, surged back in 1990/91 to clinch the KO Cup (3-2 winners over Liverpool), televised live for the first time on BBC's Grandstand. Two more finals followed in 1991/92, but the team narrowly missed out to Malory 3-2 in the KO Cup and Liverpool in the Super Cup. Tytko returned to coach the team from 1992-94 before Jurek Jankowski took on the role of player/coach for the following 5 years. Former Polonia member Simon Golding came back to lead the side in 1999/00 with Jankowski taking over once again after Golding's departure. 2001 to 2004 saw Polonia team up with Paul Westhead, former coach of Britannia Ladies, England Ladies, Ohio University and the Japanese team, Odakyu. The team however never gelled as a unit and were left once again without any much coveted silverware. Ian Towers stepped in as coach in 2004/5 when the team were coachless and at a point of folding through lack of players. An influx of new blood and old however kept the Polonia spirit alive and after a hard fought season in the bottom half of the League, Polonia lived to fight another day.

Over the last 14 years Polonia has remained one of the top teams in English volleyball, consistantly finishing within the top four places in the League. The club reached several KO Cup semi-finals but never managed to rekindle their past glories. This season ex-Polonia player and National Cup winner Julian Mazgon-Ballard takes on the role of club coach. We wish him and the team the best and hope that they can once again find the key to future success for this historic London club.

Jurek returned for two more seasons to take over from where Julian left off. The 2006/7 was the best result for the men's team for many years. They finished in 3rd place behind local rivals Malory and first time champions Docklands. Some mixed results including a first match of the season 3-0 win against Docklands and a loss against lower ranked teams was the story of the season.
Personal circumstances have prevented him from carrying on with the role and so the 2007/87 season sees Polonia player Krzys Hykiel take over the top job for the men's team, his word were:
"I am really excited about this new challenge in my life. It will be really tough to adjust to spending all of my time off the court, but you can expect me to be just as encouraging to my team from there! I anticipate the best ever squad Polonia has had, and hope that we can support each other throughout the coming year. Look out for some interesting new signings over the summer."