Club Historian Bill Dalton has paid tribute to former Hull FC player Cyril Sykes, who sadly passed away at the age of 87 yesterday.
Cyril signed for Hull after a short spell on trial in the ‘A’ team and made his debut in the first team on 15th September 1956 in a home game against St Helens, deputising at loose-Forward for Johnny Whiteley who played that day in the Centre.
He played mainly in the second-row during his 12-year Hull career and as such formed part of the famous Hull forward pack which brought Championship success to the Boulevard during that period.
In his younger days, Cyril proved useful as a multi-talented sportsman. He was a very good soccer player at school and later, during his National Service proved equally outstanding as a rugby union player in the Army.
The Military also introduced him to skiing whilst serving in Austria and he proved so adept that he was seriously regarded as a prospect for the 1956 Winter Olympic Games in Cortina d’Ampezzo, Italy. However, a short illness ruled him out of that opportunity.
After his demob, he took up Rugby League and it was a short period of time before his successful career began at the Boulevard. He became a regular in the back-row – in a pack rammed full of international players – and when Harry Markham’s career was curtailed through injury, Sykes took his place and played in the Championship Final against Oldham in his first season on 1956/57, a game that holders Hull narrowly lost 14-15.
However, Championship success came for Cyril a year later when he was part of an all-Hull-born pack which regained the Championship, beating Workington Town in the final at Odsal.
He helped Hull to their first Wembley finals in 1959 and 1960, although he missed the latter game due to an injury – as did many of the regular Hull team on that occasion.
At a time when that great Hull team started to age, Cyril carried on through the 1960’s. He had experienced the good times with the club and was a rock during the tougher period that followed. Supporters of that generation will remember that Cyril was always regarded as ‘never having a bad game’.
His career with Hull drew to a close in November 1967, shortly after playing against Hull KR in the Yorkshire Cup Final. He played some 298 matches for Hull, scoring 56 tries and kicking 62 goals, for a points total of 292.
He joined Doncaster as player-coach and made some 48 appearances scoring 5 tries and 4 goals, but rounded his career off with two appearances for Hull Kingston Rovers over the Easter of 1971 – the first of which was against Hull at the Boulevard!
The thoughts of everyone at the club remain with Cyril’s wife Jean, and the rest of his family and friends at this difficult time.
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