Billy Boston, Welsh rugby league great, dies at 92

Billy Boston, the Welsh rugby league great who became the first rugby league player to be awarded a knighthood, has died aged 92, the Welsh Rugby Union said on Tuesday.

The WRU said Boston died overnight in hospital in Wigan, his adopted home for 72 years. It said his death came four days after the funeral of his wife, Lady Joan, to whom he had been married for 70 years.

Boston played for Wigan and Great Britain in the 1950s and 1960s after switching from rugby union in 1953. He scored 478 tries in 488 matches for Wigan.

King Charles III knighted him at a ceremony in June 2025 after a campaign led by local politicians and senior rugby league figures.