Women's Hockey International - England vs USA at Wembley Stadium, March, 1978
Rosie Sykes 1st match at Wembley Stadium. She takes the ball through the USA defence. Game ended in a 2-2 tie.

Rosie Sykes had just made her debut with the England team in a match vs Wales at Llanelli, where she became the 1st Black Woman Hockey player to represent England and Great Britain in international play. Actually, Sykes was the 1st Black Woman to represent England / Great Britain in any sport.

Sykes had 51 England caps and 4 for Great Britain between 1978 and 1984. That includes a one-year break in 1981 to have her first daughter.

Her Great Britain caps tally would also have been much higher if she hadn't had the misfortune of missing out on not just one, but two Olympics.

The GB hockey teams were part of the group of athletes not sent to compete at Moscow 1980 due to the boycott led by the United States. Four years later, the team were informed just two weeks before the Los Angeles Games that they hadn't played enough qualifying matches and couldn't take part.

Sykes played her regular Hockey with the Ashford Hockey Club.

Sykes was dubbed the "Black Rose of England"