Hull FC are deeply saddened to hear of the passing of former player Cyril Sykes this evening.
Sykes, one of the club’s biggest stars of the 1950s and 1960s, made 298 appearances for the club between 1956 and 1967.
The back-rower was a member of the squad that won the 1957/58 Rugby League Championship Final against Workington at Odsal Stadium, Hull’s second Championship in just three years, with a runners-up medal in the season prior too.
Sykes was a winner of the 1958 Rugby League Championship Final title with the Black & Whites.
He featured in the pack of a star-studded squad in the late 1950s, which featured the likes of Colin Hutton, Ivor Watts, Tommy Finn, Tommy Harris, Jim and Bill Drake, and close friend Johnny Whiteley, before later becoming a much-valued teammates to the likes of Mick Harrison, Terry Devonshire, Arthur Keegan, and Clive Sullivan.
Further success came in Sykes career, being part of the squad which famously claimed the first and only European Club Championship title in 1957, as well as playing in the first ever Hull side to walk out at Wembley Stadium in the 1959 Challenge Cup Final against Wigan.
Sykes is widely regarded as one of the club’s most consistent performers of all-time, rarely putting in a below-par performance, and considered one of the best Hull players to have never gained representative honours.
Sykes (back-row, third from left), was part of the side that made Hull FC’s first ever appearance at Wembley Stadium in the 1959 Challenge Cup Final.
A loyal club man, he was a main stay in the success of the 50’s and didn’t turn his back on the side during the subsequent darker times of the mid 60’s.
Sykes served in the armed-forces, and incredibly even went on to become an Olympic-standard skier later in life.
He left the Black & Whites at the end of the 1967/68 season, before going on to play for Hull Kingston Rovers, and later coach Doncaster RLFC.
In tribute to his service to the club, Sykes delivered the match ball at the MKM Stadium ahead of our fixture against Wigan Warriors in 2019, alongside his dear friend and former teammate Johnny Whiteley MBE.
Sykes was 87 years old.
The thoughts of everyone at the club are with Cyril’s wife Jean, and his family and friends at this sad time.
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