Billy Boston - Centre
Wales RL
Heritage No | 382 |
Date Of Birth | 06/08/1934 |
Place Of Birth | Cardiff |
Clubs | Blackpool Borough, Wigan Warriors, Neath, Pontypridd, Cardiff International Athletic Club |
Honours | Great Britain, Wales RL, Other Nationalities |
Invitational | Rugby League XIII |
William John Boston MBE scored 571 tries in 564 appearances his career, the second highest all-time try scorer in the history of rugby league, after Brian Bevan. Born in Angelina Street, he went to South Church Street School and played for Cardiff Schools, Boys Clubs of Wales, Wales Youth, the CIACS and Neath in rugby union. He signed for Wigan while still a teenager for £3,000. It was a good deal for Wigan as Billy went on to score 478 tries in 487 matches for them, helping them to win thereof the six Challenge Cup finals they reached in his 15 seasons at the club. He also scored twice in their 1960 Championship final victory earn Wigan their first title in eight years, and picked up two Lancashire League and one Lancashire Cup winners medals. He won the World Cup with Great Britain and played 31 times for the Lions, becoming their first black tourist in Australia. He scored a further 53 tries in 27 tour matches for Great Britain. He is in the Rugby League and Wigan Halls of Fame, on the Welsh Sports Hall of Fame’s ‘Roll of Honour’ and was made MBE for his services to sport in 1986. He also has a statue dedicated to him at Wigan and is included on the Rugby League statue at Wembley Stadium. His grandson Wes Davies also went on to play for Wigan and Wales.
N.B. Boston's Wales Rugby League heritage number is out of sequence. He was awarded a Welsh cap in 2016 for his 1955 appearance for Wales against France B. Unlike the rest of the side in that match, he didn't ever ever play for Wales in a full international. He was then later awarded heritage #382. This number, which falls between the winter and Super League era of rugby league, became available due to a reporting error from 1995 that was discovered after the heritage numbers were introduced.
N.B. Boston's Wales Rugby League heritage number is out of sequence. He was awarded a Welsh cap in 2016 for his 1955 appearance for Wales against France B. Unlike the rest of the side in that match, he didn't ever ever play for Wales in a full international. He was then later awarded heritage #382. This number, which falls between the winter and Super League era of rugby league, became available due to a reporting error from 1995 that was discovered after the heritage numbers were introduced.
SEASON | P | W | D | L | TRY | GOALS | DG | PTS | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1954-1955 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
TOTAL | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
Note: The statistics tab shows all of the player’s known appearances for this particular Wales side against international sides or other non-capped recognised first class matches. To see exactly how many full test rugby league caps for Wales (or any other country) that this player has, please click the “Test Summary” tab. Nines individual player records are not shown, please click here for full details about Nines. Please also note that clubs’ current names are used throughout this website, due to the database only being able to feed one name per club (e.g. Wigan will also be known as Wigan Warriors throughout all player profiles).