The Welsh Rugby Union has joined in the congratulations to Billy Boston on his knighthood in the King’s Birthday Honours list.
“>As the whole of Wales celebrates the 90-year-old Sir Billy becoming the first knight from the rugby league code, the WRU can point to the former Wigan and Great Britain great being the first black player to play representative rugby union for Wales.
Born in Angelina Street in what used to be called Tiger Bay, Sir Billy won the Dewar Shield with Cardiff Schools U15 in 1949. He was in a side that triumphed 8-3 in Neath over Mynydd Mawr and contained future Wales captain Lloyd Williams and British and Commonwealth heavyweight boxing champion Joe Erskine.
He played for the Central Boys Clun in Cardiff as well as Cardiff Youth. At the age of 17 he captained the Boys Clubs of Wales against England in February 1952 at Neath, scoring 17 of his side’s points, including a hat-trick of tries, in a magnificent 32-0 win in front of a crowd of 5,000.
Joining him on the scoresheet that day was the future Wales prop and coach Ron Waldron. He had already played for the Neath senior team at The Gnoll and had scored more than 120 points for the CIACS that same season.
A month later he was capped by the Wales Youth team. The Wales Youth side had played their first international against France in 1951 and then played Munster (twice) and Wales Schools before facing France again on 29 March 1952 – with Sir Billy scoring the only Welsh try in a 5-3 defeat in Aurillac. This made Sir Billy the first black player to play for any Welsh rugby union representative side.
As well as playing for Neath, Sir Billy also played for Pontypridd before joining the Army to undertake his National Service. At the age of 18 he led the Cardiff & District XV against Cardiff in the opening game of the 1952-53 season at the Arms Park.
Cardiff, with Cliff Morgan playing at outside half and scoring two tries, won 22-0, but the Western Mail rugby writer JBG Thomas commented: “The District had a splendid centre in W Boston, who should be in the Cardiff Athletic XV.”
Alas, he never played for the senior Cardiff side and instead signed for Wigan at the age of 18, thus professionalising himself. He put pen to paper on the £3,000 offer from Wigan on 13 March 1953, although the contract wasn’t announced until a few months later.
During his National Service he was based in Catterick and became a star in the Royal Signals XV. He scored six tries against the Welsh Guards in the 1953 Army Cup Final and four of the Army’s five tries against the Territorial Army in 1954.
After watching that performance the Daily Express rugby writer, Pat Marshall, wrote: “If he had not signed professional forms he must have been in the current Welsh Rugby Union side. Quite simply, he is one of the greatest running back I have seen.”
His Wigan debut came in an A Team fixture on 31 October 1953, when he announced himself with two tries against Barrow A. His first team debut came against Barrow at Central Park on 21 November, when he scored the first of his 478 tries for the club in 488 appearances.
After his try scoring debut, he followed up with two tries in his second outing, three in his third and fourth in his fourth. His talent was soon spotted by the Great Britain selectors, who picked him to go on tour to Australia in the summer of 1954 – at 19, the youngest player to have ever toured with the squad.
He also became the first black player to be selected to tour Australasia. He played in all five Tests and scored 36 tries in 18 games on tour – including seven hat tricks and six against North Coast.
He also equaled the record for the most tries in a Test match with four against New Zealand in Auckland in the first international.
An original inductee of the British Rugby League Hall of Fame, Welsh Sports Hall of Fame and Wigan Warriors Hall of Fame, Sir Billy was appointed Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE) in the 1996 Birthday Honours “for services to the community in Wigan, Greater Manchester.”
He was one of five rugby league greats captured on a statue at Wembley, was then given his own statue in Wigan and two years ago took centre stage on a rugby league statue in Cardiff Bay alongside Gus Risman and Clive Sullivan.
“The WRU is delighted to join in the celebrations of the honour bestowed on Sir Billy Boston,” said WRU CEO Abi Tierney.
“His playing achievements in rugby league speak for themselves and he was a hugely promising rugby union player in his youth. He has been a magnificent ambassador for both his sport, his ‘home’ city of Cardiff and for his adopted home of Wigan.
“He was a trailblazer in his day and remains one of the greatest names in Welsh sporting history.”
He twice topped the rugby league try scoring charts and managed 60 touchdowns in the 1956-57 season. He won the Rugby League Challenge Cup three times in six trips to Wembley, ran in two tries in the 1960 Championship final to earn Wigan their first title in eight years, and picked up two Lancashire League and one Lancashire Cup winners medals.
He also scored against Australia in the decisive game in the 1960 World Championship series that earned GB the world crown.