TRIBUTES have flowed for Sir Billy Boston, the Wigan and Great Britain try-scorer supreme who was a Rugby League trailblazer.

Cardiff-born Sir Billy, who totalled 571 tries during a glittering career, 478 of them in 488 games for Wigan, has died having reached his 92nd birthday on August 6. He had been living with dementia.

His death follows that of his wife Lady Joan Boston aged 90 on July 23. The couple had been married for 70 years.

Warmly hailed when in June of last year, he was awarded Rugby League’s first knighthood (he had previously become an MBE), the legendary winger had more than 70 years earlier made history as the first non-white player to be selected for a Lions tour, to Australia and New Zealand in 1954.

Boston had faced racism in rugby union which it was strongly argued denied him the opportunity to either represent Wales at full international level or join the renowned Cardiff club.

That contributed to him turning professional and becoming one of the celebrated ‘codebreakers’, highlighting the inclusivity of Rugby League and helping open doors for other Black sports stars.

He was a fans’ favourite not just through his scoring rate but also entertaining style – tremendous running power was allied with a fearsome hand-off and big-hitting tackles – and engaging personality.

Despite still being a relative Rugby League rookie, Boston scored 36 tries in 18 matches on that 1954 trip, including four in one game against the Kiwis, a 27-7 success in Auckland.

Having contributed to the Ashes series triumph of 1956-57 and 1959-60, he also claimed a try in Great Britain’s 10-3 victory over Australia at Odsal, Bradford which clinched the 1960 World Cup (involving four teams and played as a mini league).

Boston, who made a second visit to the southern hemisphere in 1962, ended with 24 tries in 31 Test appearances and an additional 53 from 27 further tour matches.

His Rugby League career ran from 1953 until 1970 (he finished with a stint at Blackpool Borough), and those 571 tries (in 564 recorded games) make him the highest British try-scorer in the sport’s history.

Boston’s tally is second only to Australian winger Brian Bevan, who chalked up 796 between 1942 and 1964, mostly for Warrington.

Born in the Cardiff district of Butetown with family links to Sierra Leone (through his merchant seaman father) and Ireland (via his mother), he was one of eleven siblings and started his rugby union career with Cardiff Internationals Athletic Club, representing the city’s schoolboys team and Wales at youth level.

Boston had trials with Neath and Pontypridd, but neither came to anything, and when he headed north for National Service with the Royal Signals at Catterick, Yorkshire, and produced a string of bright displays on the Army rugby union scene, Rugby League clubs began to circle.

Wigan won the race, paying a £3,000 signing-on fee (around £110,000 today), which proved to be money very well spent.

Boston went on to contribute to five trophy triumphs, including the Championship Final success of 1959-60.

Playing in the centres after coach Joe Egan reshuffled his side due to player unavailability, he scored two of Wigan’s five tries (worth three points apiece) in the comprehensive 27-3 victory over Wakefield Trinity, who had comfortably overcome Hull FC 38-5 in the Challenge Cup final the week before.

The title decider took place at Odsal, attracting 83,190, the highest-ever attendance for a grand final on British soil.

Boston had been a Wembley winner in each of the previous two seasons, Wigan lifting the Challenge Cup by beating Workington Town 13-9 in 1957-58 (when he also played centre) and Hull FC 30-13 in 1958-59, when he crossed twice.

A third Challenge Cup winners’ medal came his way in 1964-65, when Hunslet were defeated 20-16 (by then Eric Ashton had become player-coach).

Boston also played for Wigan in the finals of 1960-61, won by St Helens, 1962-63 (Wakefield) and 1965-66 (St Helens).

In 1966-67, he helped his side win the Lancashire Cup, scoring a try in the 16-13 victory against Oldham at Station Road, Swinton (he had previously featured in the 1957-58 final defeat by the same opposition at the same venue).

He also contributed to Wigan’s Lancashire League titles of 1858-59 and 1961-62.

After hanging up his boots, Boston stayed in Wigan, becoming the licensee of The Griffin pub near the old Central Park ground, until 1995.

He became an MBE in 1996 and was one of the first inductees in the Rugby League Hall of Fame in 1998, joining the Welsh Sports Hall of Fame in 1999.

Boston received the freedom of Wigan in 2000 and there are statues of him in that town as well in Cardiff (with fellow Welsh Rugby League legends Clive Sullivan and Gus Risman) and at Wembley (with Alex Murphy, Martin Offiah MBE, Risman and Ashton).

When his knighthood was confirmed, Wigan chairman Chris Brookes said: “I am absolutely delighted and so happy that Billy – and Rugby League – has finally received the ultimate recognition his stellar career deserves.”

Brookes said he had remained the “most modest of men” even though he was the “most revered player of our wonderful sport”.

In February, Boston was among the main guests at the Rugby League Lions Association annual reunion lunch.