Could it really be the end of the road for Paul Sykes, still playing as he approaches the age of 45, but now definitely claiming this will be his last season? Watch this space!
HISTORY-MAKING Dewsbury favourite Paul Sykes states that he will definitely retire at the end of the current season.
But, adamant as the evergreen stand-off is about finally hanging up his boots, it might be unwise to put a large amount of money on it!
The incredible Yorkshireman, who turns 45 in August, broke former Salford and Workington legend Gus Risman’s long-standing record for playing the most consecutive years as a professional in April of last year.
Yet such was his dedication to the game which became his life, Sykes admits that, at the time, he barely knew that he was about to demote one of rugby league’s all-time greats a place down the longevity list.
Even at 40, when then Dewsbury coach Lee Greenwood decided that he would fittingly wear a shirt carrying that number, few could envisage the former Thornhill junior would still be guiding his hometown club around the pitch while passing on the experience gained over 28 unbroken seasons.
“It was my uncle Pat Longstaff who taught me to play the game – I always had a ball in my hand as long as I can remember,” Sykes recalls.
“I started playing with my local village side when I was about six and it was winter rugby then so we used to play in snow and all weathers.
“I’ve done it all my life as Thornhill was a ‘rugby village’ where everyone was mad about it.
“I think I simply enjoyed the game and always watched on TV but never really thought about playing for a living – I just loved it.”
That lifelong passion remains and others soon began to take notice, both at club and schools level.
“I played for Dewsbury and Batley schoolboys in the 1992 curtain raiser to the Wigan versus Castleford Challenge Cup Final.
“It was a game against Oldham and Kevin Sinfield was also playing that day.
“That was an experience I’ll never forget as it was at the old Wembley, which was a big stadium and we played on the full field in those days so the pitch seemed massive.
“As you got older, lads would drift away to other things and it reached a stage when we couldn’t raise a team and that age group folded at Thornhill.
“So I ended up going to a club called St John Fisher, which is now Dewsbury Celtic.
“That was from about 12 and I was playing some good rugby and winning a few cups.
“Bradford had been watching a few of our games and a couple of years later, with us doing well, Brian Noble picked me out and offered me the chance to join the Bulls.
“Bradford were a big team then and they sold it to me straight away.”
Shortly after Sykes, as a goal-kicking full back, was bisecting the posts from all angles, with monotonous regularity, for the Odsal outfit’s A-team and, on 2nd July 1999, the youngster – barely six weeks before his 18th birthday – got the chance to make his Super League debut in a 36-8 defeat of Wakefield.
“I think I was a bit of a natural when it came to kicking but I did practice a lot – often with mates down the local park.
“We would pretend it was the last minute of the game and the result depended on the kick!
“I’ve always loved kicking,” he says, and it has shown across the decades as Sykes has frequently played out the ‘kick to win the game’ scenario for each of the five clubs he has represented during well over 500 first grade appearances.
“I was a young kid coming through at Bradford and they had so many big stars then so it was difficult to get game time.
“Brian took me aside one day and asked how would I like to go, along with Rob Parker, on loan to London, where I would be assured of more first-team game time.
“We jumped at the chance and went down there, being put up in a hotel for a few weeks.
“Tony Rea was the Broncos boss at the time and we eventually got our own apartment.
“It was a great experience as we were both still pretty young and it turned me into what I am now.
“I played with some very good players – many of them Australians – and really enjoyed it.
Joining the antipodean quota with ‘equally strange’ Yorkshire accents, he recalls with a grin: “Yes, nobody could understand what we were saying!”
After two initial loan spells Sykes signed full time for the Broncos – a move which resulted in him gaining England and Great Britain honours and setting the first of many records.
In February 2005, against Wakefield, Sykes kicked 12 goals from 12 attempts to break a 17-year-old London club record.
He was voted Supporters’ 2005 Player of the Year at the end of that season and currently stands top of the capital side’s all-time most points accumulated table with 772.
“I was there seven years – Tony had faith in me and gave me the chance which I think I took with both hands.” he recalls.
“My partner Charlotte was still up north and used to come down to support me but, although I could have gone to a couple of clubs, I felt I still had unfinished business at Bradford.
“Under Steve McNamara I had a really good first year and made the England squad for the 2008 World Cup down under.
“I didn’t get to play much but the experience was amazing – not many people get to play in a World Cup in Australia.”
His subsequent second departure from Odsal came shortly after McNamara left to become England boss and Mick Potter was brought on board for the 2011 season.
Sykes was quickly left with the impression that his face didn’t fit with what the Australian coach was looking for.
“Mick took me aside on the first day back in training and told me that I was unlikely to play much.
“So I stuck my head down and trained hard – I got a few games but obviously wasn’t in his plans, and eventually got talking to Martin Clawson, who was conditioner at Wakefield at the time.
“Richard Agar was in charge at Belle Vue and I initially ended up going on loan.
“I found they were a really good bunch of blokes – a tight knit family and it seemed we had all come from clubs that didn’t want us – you might say we were a bunch of misfits!
“That year started of not so well – we were near the bottom – but then we went on a really massive run – unbeaten in seven or eight games to make the play-offs.
“But Wakefield were another club going through some tough times financially and they started selling players.
“Tim Smith went to Salford, Kyle Amor to St Helens, Paul Ayton to Leeds.”
Sykes ended up moving a few miles east to much more recently troubled Featherstone.
“I played one enjoyable year at Fev but always wanted to finish with my hometown club.
“I originally came to Dewsbury and was only supposed to be playing for another couple of years!”
That was 11 seasons back and the irrepressibly enthusiastic Sykes is still donning the Rams’ colours.
“As long as my body is alright and I’m enjoying it then why not carry on playing – age is just a number.
“But this year will be my last…!”
His amazing longevity is a record which might never be broken in a modern era of super fit athletes who now abound in the game.
“It’s been tough, especially at first going from full-time rugby to having to work during the days then train on three evenings a week.
“It comes down to enjoying it and as long as I still feel I have something to offer the team that I’m playing for and can pass things on to others.”
Having started his professional career before a large proportion of his current Rams’ team-mates were born, the Huddersfield Town supporter and occasional golfer points out: “I might not play regularly this season but am training with the lads and still feel I can ‘coach’ from within if you understand what I mean?
“Everybody thinks I’m mad – Charlotte, my 18-year old son Thomas, who has just begun a film and media course at Manchester University, and step daughter Laura, now 29, keep hearing: “just one more year, then one more year” but this is going to be my last!
“I want to stay in the game if possible, whether it’s coaching or whatever?
“I wish I’d played in a Grand Final or Challenge Cup Final but have no real regrets, as I’ve had a great career and met some really good people.”
First published in Rugby League World magazine, Issue 518 (March 2026)