Rugby trailblazers Billy Boston, Clive Sullivan and Gus Risman ‘finally recognised’ in Wales

It has taken more than half a century for Wales to celebrate what the rest of the world recognised a lifetime ago.

Three rugby players of such skill, speed and strength that they have roads, avenues, trophies, balls and grandstands named after them elsewhere.

Yet Billy Boston, Clive Sullivan and Gus Risman have passed unrecognised in their home country – until now.

A statue has been unveiled in Cardiff Bay celebrating three of Welsh rugby’s greatest exports and pioneers.

That the inclusion of Boston and Sullivan marks the first statue of non-fictionalised, named black men in Wales hints at the struggles they faced.

It also rights a commonly perceived wrong that this recognition has been too long coming.

Previously there were only four statues to rugby players in Wales: Gareth Edwards (Cardiff), Ken Jones (Blaenavon), Phil Bennett (Felinfoel) and Ray Gravell (Llanelli). Boston now has three dotted around the UK.

Long before Whitchurch High School could boast of alumni including Gareth Bale, Sam Warburton and Geraint Thomas, the South Church Street School in Butetown was churning out sporting greats.

Boston, born to an Irish mother and a father from Sierra Leone, was the latest of a line that included Risman, Colin Dixon, Johnny Freeman and champion boxer Joe Erskine.

He had dreamed of playing for Cardiff, but the club, who had previously ignored so many talented black players from Butetown, were not forthcoming.

So when Wigan laid £3,000 in notes on his mother’s kitchen table, the deal was done and 19-year-old Boston burst into tears. At the time, rugby union banished for life anyone paid to play and Boston knew his dream was over.

“Billy says he didn’t want to go because he wanted to play for Cardiff and Wales. Cardiff were slow off the mark in those days and didn’t have a good record of picking black players and Wales didn’t pick one until the 1980s,” said another Cardiff-raised rugby league legend, Jim Mills.