Ahead of tonight’s game between Wigan Warriors and Hull KR, the entire rugby league community stopped to remember one of their very best – Sir Billy Boston.
Boston died earlier this week, at the age of 92. The 1960 World Cup winner became the first black player to play for Great Britain, and is the second-highest try-scorer in the sport’s history.
The former winger is the only person to have a statue made up in Cardiff, Wigan and London, highlighting his success and legacy in the sport and the places he represented.
Wigan have put on an incredible tribute to rugby league’s first-ever knight, led by Warriors CEO Kris Radlinski, who joined the Sky Sports broadcast team ahead of kick-off.
The former full-back spoke on Boston’s move from Wales to Wigan, and how he always labelled it as “the best mistake he ever made.”
Radlinski said:  “Well, I think the rumour is it was about £3,000 [transfer fee]. It’s certainly the best investment we’ve ever made.
“What followed will never be, you can never put a price on that. I believe his mum had to twist his arm to go as well, so long before agents in rugby league, his mum told him where to go and ended up in this beautiful place.
He continued: “My job is to be prepared for these eventualities, and we’ve probably been looking at this for a few months, in all honesty.
“I think the outpouring of emotion has really taken everybody by surprise, not just in Wigan, I mean nationally, all over the sporting landscape.
“I heard today he was described as the ‘Pele of rugby league’ and you’re doing okay if that’s your kind of comparison. It’s a wonderful life well lived, and he’s served this town and this club very, very well.”
Sir Billy Boston given heartfelt tribute by Wigan Warriors
Joining him in remembering Boston were pundits Jon Wilkin and Jamie Jones-Buchanan, who had equally meaningful words to remember the second-highest try scorer in the sport’s history.
Jones-Buchanan said: “I think it’s a wonderful story of social mobility, a man who’s awash with physical talent in a demographic that’s not got so much economic affluence but invited to come up north, following the likes of Roy Francis to Wigan, coming with the likes of Johnny Freeman and Clive Sullivan and becoming the shining light that’s inspired so many over the generations and I think he’s ultimately brought out a story that tells the best of Rugby League.”
Wilkin, meanwhile, spoke on how Sir Billy became rugby league’s first-ever knight last year, saying it was “about time.”
“We’ve waited a long time for this, and Billy Boston received his knighthood and rightly so,” he said.
“I want to take you back to Tiger Bay in the south of Wales and think, in the 1950s, the impact that moving as a young black kid from Tiger Bay up to Wigan, which was a predominantly white working-class town, that movement and the ability that rugby league gave these athletes to showcase their talents can’t be underestimated.
“It’s everything that’s brilliant about our sport. He was a champion player, he was born in Tiger Bay, but he was embraced by Wigan.”
Following both sides’ warm-ups this evening, the Brick Community Stadium fell silent for a rendition of Abide With Me, sung by Seán Ruane, before representatives from Wigan [Professor Chris Brookes], Hull KR [owner Neil Hudgell] and the RFL [Chair Nigel Wood] laid wreaths in Sir Billy’s memory.
Jerusalem was then sung, whilst former Warriors players entered the pitch to form a Guard of Honour. A Sir Billy Boston tifo was then revealed, before a special video was played on the big screen, celebrating Boston’s life. A minute’s silence was then perfectly observed.
