Billy Boston - AbsoluteAstronomy.com

William John "Billy" Boston MBE is a former Wales and Great Britain professional Rugby League World Cup

Rugby League World Cup

The Rugby League World Cup is an international rugby league competition contested by members of the Rugby League International Federation . It has been held nearly once every 4 years on average since its inaugural tournament in France in 1954...

winning footballer

Rugby football

Rugby football is a style of football named after Rugby School in the United Kingdom. It is seen most prominently in two current sports, rugby league and rugby union.-History:...

. Boston is a member of the Rugby League Hall of Fame

British Rugby League Hall of Fame

The British Rugby League Hall of Fame was established by the Rugby Football League in 1988 to commemorate the greatest ever players in British rugby league...

, Welsh Sports Hall of Fame

Welsh Sports Hall of Fame

The Welsh Sports Hall of Fame is a charitable organization created to commemorate the sporting achievements and preserve the artifacts of Welsh athletes. It was established in 1980 from the memorabilia collection of Welsh radio announcer G. V. Wynne-Jones...

and was, along with Shaun Edwards

Shaun Edwards

Shaun Edwards OBE is an English rugby union coach and former rugby league player. He is defence coach of Wales, a post he has held since 2008. In November 2011 he left London Wasps after 10 years with the club, latterly as head coach....

the first to be voted into the Wigan

Wigan Warriors

Wigan Warriors is an English rugby league club based in Wigan, Greater Manchester. The club's first team squad competes in the engage Super League and the team are the current Challenge Cup holders as of the 27th August 2011....

Hall Of Fame. He was awarded an MBE in 1986.

Early life

He was born on the 6th of August 1934 in Tiger Bay

Tiger Bay

Tiger Bay was the local name for an area of Cardiff which covered Butetown and Cardiff Docks. It was re-branded as Cardiff Bay following the building of the Cardiff Barrage which dams the tidal rivers Ely and Taff to create a body of water.-History:...

, Cardiff

Cardiff

Cardiff is the capital, largest city and most populous county of Wales and the 10th largest city in the United Kingdom. The city is Wales' chief commercial centre, the base for most national cultural and sporting institutions, the Welsh national media, and the seat of the National Assembly for...

and played rugby union

Rugby union

Rugby union, often simply referred to as rugby, is a full contact team sport which originated in England in the early 19th century. One of the two codes of rugby football, it is based on running with the ball in hand...

for the CIAC's RFC, Pontypridd RFC

Pontypridd RFC

Pontypridd Rugby Football Club, known as Ponty, are a rugby union team from Pontypridd, Rhondda Cynon Taf, Wales, currently playing in the British and Irish Cup, Principality Premiership, and are the current SWALEC Cup champions....

and Neath RFC

Neath RFC

Neath Rugby Football Club is a Welsh rugby union club which plays in the Welsh Premier Division. The club's home ground is The Gnoll, Neath. The first team is known as the Welsh All Blacks because of the team colours: black with only a white cross pattée as an emblem...

Professional career

Wigan

Wigan Warriors

were alerted to him when he was serving with the Royal Signals at Catterick

Catterick Garrison

Catterick Garrison is a major Army base located in Northern England. It is the largest British Army garrison in the world with a population of around 12,000, plus a large temporary population of soldiers, and is larger than its older neighbour...

and when he made his 'A' team debut a crowd of 8,000 assembled inside Central Park, Wigan

Central Park (Wigan)

Central Park was a rugby league stadium in Wigan, England. It was the home of Wigan RLFC before the club moved to the JJB Stadium in 1999. Its final capacity was 18,000.-History:...

. He made his first team debut against Barrow

Barrow Raiders

Barrow Raiders are an English professional rugby league team from Barrow-in-Furness, Cumbria, who are coached by Dave Clark. Formed in 1875 as Barrow Football Club, the club is the oldest of the current professional sports teams in Cumbria....

in November, 1953 scoring a try.

For the next fifteen seasons he was a living legend and played his final game in 1968. With Boston on the right wing and Eric Ashton

Eric Ashton

Eric Ashton MBE was an English professional Rugby League World Cup-winning footballer of the 1950s and '60s and later a coach. He played his whole first grade football career for Wigan along with at times both captaining and coaching them; his position of choice was right centre...

playing at right centre, Wigan had one of the best combinations in the history of the game. Both players scored doubles in Wigan's 1959–60 Northern Rugby Football League season Championship final victory. Boston had an incredible turn of speed for a big man and had the ultimate side step and was also able to hand off opponents with apparent ease.

Boston also played 31 games for Great Britain

Great Britain national rugby league team

The Great Britain national rugby league team represents the United Kingdom in rugby league football. Administered by the Rugby Football League , the team is nicknamed "The Lions" or "Great Britain Lions"....

and was the first player to score four tries in a game against New Zealand. He was the first non-white player to be selected to tour and added to his 478 tries for Wigan

Wigan Warriors

.

With BBC television

BBC Television

BBC Television is a service of the British Broadcasting Corporation. The corporation, which has operated in the United Kingdom under the terms of a Royal Charter since 1927, has produced television programmes from its own studios since 1932, although the start of its regular service of television...

coverage increasing in the late-1950s, armchair fans as well as terrace supporters were able to witness Billy Boston in action. He beat Johnny Ring's record of 368 tries and went on to score a record 478 for Wigan

Wigan Warriors

, a record that will probably never be broken. Boston also twice equalled the then Wigan club record of seven tries in game, only surpassed since by Martin Offiah

Martin Offiah

Martin Offiah MBE is an English former rugby league and rugby union footballer.He is known as "Chariots" Offiah after the film Chariots of Fire...

and Shaun Edwards

Shaun Edwards

.

Boston scored a total of 571 tries in his career which he finished with Blackpool Borough

Blackpool Borough

Blackpool Borough was a rugby league club based in Blackpool, Lancashire.The team wore tangerine, black and white jerseys.-Blackpool Borough:...

. After retiring from the game he took over the running of The Griffin public house near Central Park

Central Park (Wigan)

Central Park was a rugby league stadium in Wigan, England. It was the home of Wigan RLFC before the club moved to the JJB Stadium in 1999. Its final capacity was 18,000.-History:...

until his retirement.

The Billy Boston stand at Central Park

Central Park (Wigan)

Central Park was a rugby league stadium in Wigan, England. It was the home of Wigan RLFC before the club moved to the JJB Stadium in 1999. Its final capacity was 18,000.-History:...

was named in his honour. Similarly the East Stand at the DW Stadium was officially named after Billy Boston in the year 2009.

International honours

Billy Boston also represented Great Britain

Great Britain national rugby league team

while at Wigan between 1952 and 1956 against France (1 non-Test

Test match (rugby league)

A Test match in rugby league football is a representative match between teams representing members of the Rugby League International Federation.The definition of a Test match differs from that of an international match...

match).

Career records

Billy Boston is one of less than twenty-five Welshmen to have scored more than 1000-points in their rugby league career.

External links

The source of this article is wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. The text of this article is licensed under the GFDL.