News, Manchester
PA MediaRugby league legend Sir Billy Boston should have been knighted years ago when he could have still fully appreciated its significance, his son has said.
Stephen Boston explained: “Dad’s got the dementia now and he is 90 – if he had got this 10 years ago he could [have] understood what was going on, why and how he got it, and he could enjoy it.”
The former Wigan Warriors star earlier this week became the first rugby league player to be knighted in the sport’s 130-year history.
Stephen, who attended the investiture along with his mum Joan and sisters Karen Murray and Christine Davies, said his dad’s honour had been “a long time coming”.
“It was absolutely amazing,” he said of the ceremony. “I thought the King was brilliant with him.
“I thought my dad – who has his moments – was brilliant and really enjoyed it. It’s a big thing.”
He said his dad had “leaned into me on the way out and said ‘that’s the biggest honour I’ve ever received’ and I was quite taken aback because normally he wouldn’t understand what’s going on”.
At the investiture, Sir Billy also enjoyed some banter with King Charles.
Stephen said: “The King told dad, ‘I played rugby in the Army but it is not as dangerous as the sport you do’.
“Dad said, ‘No, your job is much more dangerous’!”
Cardiff-born Sir Billy scored 478 tries in 488 matches for Wigan after making the switch from rugby union – then an amateur game – to the professional ranks of rugby league in 1953.
Sir Billy, who has family links to Ireland and Sierra Leone, was in 1954 the first black player on a Great Britain rugby league Lions tour.
He scored 36 tries in 18 appearances around Australia and New Zealand, including a then-record four in one match against the Kiwis.
He made two more Lions tours – in 1958 and 1962 – and ended with 24 tries in 31 Test appearances for Great Britain.
Politicians and rugby league’s biggest names campaigned for him to become the sport’s first knight.
Stephen said he thought it was “scandalous” that it had taken so long.
He also has no doubt about who the next one should be – former Leeds Rhinos and England star Kevin Sinfield, who has since become equally synonymous with raising awareness about motor neurone disease.
The 44-year-old has embarked on a series of fundraising efforts inspired by his late teammate Rob Burrow, who died of the disease last year.
“It has to be Kevin,” said Stephen. “He is superhuman and has put the sport on the map!”
PA Media
