A special presentation took place at Tigerland on Friday, with the awarding of a posthumous life membership to the Club’s 1905 VFA premiership player Walter Sykes.
Sykes was born on May 2, 1881 in Fitzroy, so what made this presentation extra memorable was that the award was accepted in person – by his son.
Des Sykes was born in 1955, when his father was 74 years of age and his mother, Elizabeth, 42. (They had an older son, Graham, born in 1950).
It was Walter's second marriage, with his first wife, Flora Band, having died. Walter and Flora had three children, and Beverley, who accompanied Des to the Club today for the life membership presentation, is their grand-daughter.
Walter Frederick Victor Sykes originally played with Collingwood in the Victorian Football League in 1904, before receiving a permit to join Richmond in the Victorian Football Association.
Sykes proved to be a handy pick-up for the Tigers. The quick, no-nonsense centreman played 20 consecutive games in his 1905 debut season, including the Grand Final victory over North Melbourne, where he booted two goals.
All-up, he played 32 games with Richmond, before returning to the VFL and playing 41 games for Melbourne from 1907-1912.
He also is part of another small piece of Tigerland history . . .
In 1908, while at Melbourne, Sykes was suspended for three matches after striking Richmond player Herbert Hill. Hill's retaliatory strike also resulted in a three-match suspension – thereby making him the first player in the Tigers’ league football history to be rubbed out.
Sykes died, aged 86, only 10 days after Richmond's drought-breaking 1967 premiership triumph.
His posthumous life membership was the result of a constitutional change by the Richmond Board in 2017, granting the accolade to all senior premiership players in the Club’s history.
As a result, the Club is searching for relatives of the following VFA and VFL premiership players. If you have any information on them, please email me at rhettrospective@gmail.com.
Bill Lang (LanFranchi)
Alfred Charles Davidson
Roland Duncan
Tom Gault
Percy Gibb
P. Gibney
Timothy Patrick Hardiman
K. Hardy
George Sidney ‘Mallee’ Johnson
Henry ‘Ernie’ Justins
Joseph ‘Joe’ Justins
Ernest Edward Main (brother of Jack)
John ‘Jack’ Alfred Main (brother of Ernest)
Manning (first name unknown)
Richard Francis Pirrie (his sons Richard and Kevin both played for Hawthorn)
Henry Archie Richardson (born: 1879, died: 1981)
Wilson (first name unknown)
Charles Henry Thomas Ricketts
John ‘Jack’ Yates Anderson
Royston Duggan Quinn
