THE PRINCES on the pitch may steal the show with the action – but there is only one King Bill.
Tonight is about one man – rugby league’s first ever knight, Wigan legend Sir Billy Boston.
As the Warriors face Huddersfield, the icon gets more recognition.
After 571 tries in 564 career appearances as he became a legend – with three statues around the country – he was knighted by King Charles last month.
Now Wigan and the 13-a-side code gets to toast its own king as the 90-year-old’s son Stephen is ready for an emotional night.
He said: “He will always be King Bill. He’s still my hero.
“I remember Green Vigo used to come into dad’s pub and he used to say, ‘The King’s retired and the Prince is taking over.’ Dad replied, ‘The King’s still here, don’t you worry about it.’
“All the teams used to come in, even the Aussie touring sides, just to see my dad and have a chat.
“I never saw him play physically but I’ve seen the reels and he was unstoppable in some of them. Every time he touched the ball, the crowd went up on its feet.
“Tonight promises to be special, we’re all looking forward to it. Wigan as a club has been really good with him and you can also see his face light up when he sees chief executive Kris Radlinski.”;
Sir Billy’s standing in rugby league and Wigan is exemplified in many ways. When he is walking around the supermarket with wife Joan, he is stopped by small children.
Stephen says there is not much memorabilia left as his old man has given loads away and if he could, he would still be at clubs’ presentation evenings.
When he was shown on screen during the Warriors’ Good Friday derby with St Helens, everyone – even away fans – saluted him.
“Seeing that on TV brought a tear to my eye,”; added Stephen, who lives in Scotland and is travelling to his hometown today.
“You could see what it meant. I think somebody just elbowed him and said, ‘They’re talking about you and they’re clapping you.’ The big smile came on his face.
“That was priceless, you’ll never see that again. All of a sudden, my phone was going, ‘Ping, ping, ping, ping, ping, ping.’
“Everyone was asking, ‘Did you see your dad? I replied, ‘I’m watching it now.’”;
There is only one first knight, there is only one sportsman with three statues – in his native South Wales, in Wigan and at Wembley. There is only one Sir Billy Boston.
However, Stephen admits a ‘bittersweet’ sentiment that it has taken his dad to reach 90 years of age, after living with vascular dementia for 13, to get a knighthood.
To him, it should have come a decade ago as he told SunSport: “The knighthood came a little bit too late for him to enjoy it fully.
“He enjoyed the day at the Palace but I asked him the day after, ‘Did you enjoy that yesterday?’ and he couldn’t remember.
“It should have come about 10 years ago. He would have known everything that was happening.
“Two of my sisters – Lisa Parr and Angela Dainty – have passed away. They never got to see him getting this and they’d have been over the moon.
“He’s still got wit and he’s still quite funny. The king came over and said, ‘I used to play rugby union in the army, but it’s not as dangerous as your game.’
“Dad turned round and said to him, ‘I think your job’s a bit more dangerous than mine.’ He had the whole room laughing.
“He also grabbed hold of my arm and said, ‘That’s the biggest honour I’ve ever had in my life.’
“To see him deteriorate is hard to watch when you’ve had a hero like that for so long – he’s still my hero and he always will be.
“Even when he does finally leave this planet, the legacy he’ll leave behind is second to none.
“He still knows everybody, though, and that’s a big bonus for me – he still knows he’s got statues too. He brings that up in conversations quite a lot.
“It is special, there’s only one first one ever to do it. Obviously, dad will enjoy the night, but he’ll forget about it tomorrow.”;
