A giant penblwydd hapus must go out to the greatest rugby league player to ever hail from Cymru, Billy Boston, who turns 91 years old today.
Billy was born at Angelina Street, Butetown, Cardiff on 6 August 1934 to John, from Sierra Leone, and Nellie Boston, of Cardiff’s Irish community.
I was reading Billy Boston’s story prior to writing this post and was saddened to read that, more than anything, he wanted to play rugby union for the Welsh national team but was overlooked because of the colour of his skin.
He became one of the “codebreakers” – essentially meaning a black and/or mixed race player who jumped from from rugby union to league simply to be able to play the sport. It is estimated that more than 150 Welsh rugby union internationals moved to the north of England from as early as 1895 to play rugby league professionally.
In 1953, he signed for Wigan (and even then, he was very reluctant as it was his dream to play for Cardiff and Wales) and scored a fantastic haul of 478 tries in 487 appearances. A 10ft tall bronze statue bearing his likeness stands in the town to this day.
Throughout the entirety of his career, he scored 571 tries – making him the second highest scorer in the history of rugby league. Internationally, he represented Great Britain in 31 Test matches and took part in two Lions tours. He was also a crucial part of Great Britain’s 1960 Rugby League World Cup win.
Billy Boston is beloved in Wigan to this day and is more than deserving of similar love in Wales. He has been battling vascular dementia since 2016 and was recently the recipient of a knighthood.
Once more: penblwydd hapus, Billy!
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Niklas is the founder, owner, manager, editor, writer, video creator, voice over artist, and so forth, of Welsh Histories. He is passionate about the preservation of Welsh culture; the rejuvenation of the Welsh language and the promotion of Welsh history. Niklas currently resides in Pune, Maharashtra, with his beloved wife.