Rugby league has lost ‘a giant’ who battled decades of prejudice – and won ...Middle East

The year was 1953 and an 18-year-old Billy Boston, from Cardiff’s Tiger Bay, was starring while playing rugby union for the Royal Signals in Catterick, as part of his national service. His performances drew interest and it was rugby league club Wigan who won the race for his signature.

It was the dream of Boston, the son of a father from Sierra Leone and a mother from Cardiff, to represent his city and his country in rugby union. But because of the colour of his skin, the Welshman was denied that opportunity. At his mother’s encouragement, Boston joined the Cherry and Whites 77 years ago and embarked on a remarkable career that has never been, nor will ever be, emulated.

The first Black player to represent Great Britain on tour in 1954, scoring 24 tries in just 31 international caps. The first player to score four tries in a game for the Lions against New Zealand.

A rugby league World Cup winner with Great Britain four years later and a three-time Ashes winner, the wonderful winger went on to reach Wembley six times, winning three Challenge Cups with his club.

‘Billy was a sensation’

Over 15 seasons with Wigan, Boston amassed a tremendous try-scoring total of 478 in 488 games, putting him only behind Brian Bevan in the sport’s all-time list. In his pomp, the flyer, who was built like a tank, became a household name across the UK and was renowned for his speed, strength, power and skill.

“He was a big, 15-man stone man who had pace, a neat little sidestep, who had a handoff which was very similar to a shovel hitting you in the face,” Ray French, the former dual international and BBC commentator, once remarked. “Billy was a sensation.”

Last year, 55 years after he retired, Boston received another long-overdue honour. The 92-year-old became rugby league’s first knight, awarded by King Charles at Buckingham Palace. There was no more fitting recipient.

While the 13-man code mourns the loss of an icon, the Jonah Lomu of his era, Professor Tony Collins explains the winger’s impact went far beyond just the pitch.

“In the 1960s Billy Boston was famous at a time where there were no Black footballers, certainly none who were household names, no Black cricketers,” Collins, a historian and author, told The i Paper. “In a time of racial discrimination, he showed there was a place for Black athletes in British sport, and that place was rugby league.

“He paved the way for every other Black athlete in Britain and what was possible. After that, other sports changed and became more inclusive.”

‘A giant of post-war sport’

Boston blazed a trail for other Black players to star in rugby league in the decades that followed, such as Clive Sullivan, Ellery Hanley and Martin Offiah. Such was the iconic impact that he has three separate statues – one outside Wembley Stadium, one in Wigan and one in Cardiff.

According to historian and author Anthony Broxton, for a long time many rugby league people seemed to revel in the fact that no player had ever received a knighthood.

“It spoke to us as a rebellious game outside the establishment,” Broxton says.

“But that did a disservice to what people like Sir Billy did for British sport and society. He was a giant of post-war sport and a pioneer. It is right that he was the first to be recognised in this way and it means that his legacy will last beyond rugby league.”

For a quarter of a century after retiring, Boston ran the Griffin pub in Standishgate, close to Wigan’s Central Park. There the legend of the winger grew, not merely because of what he did with the ball in his hands, but because of his humble and kind nature.

“He was a man of great charm,” Collins says. “He had a great partnership with his wife Joan, that was one of the secrets of his success. One of the reasons why he became so popular in Wigan… despite being obviously wonderfully athletically gifted, he just enjoyed himself.

“He was a nice guy; although he achieved things on the field that 99.99 per cent of people could never even hope to get near, he was still an ordinary bloke. When he ran the Griffin pub, you could go in and he would pour you a pint, and you could have a natter with him about what was going on, not just in rugby but in the world around you.”

Rugby league is poorer for his passing, but his legacy will always remain.

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