WHERE ARE THEY NOW?

Billy Boston

Wigan, the fat cats of Rugby League, have rarely shied away from backing their judgement with hard cash, and their signing of Billy Boston in 1953 was typically sensational. So highly did they rate the Cardiff- born winger, the scorer of a staggering 126 tries in one season for Royal Signals, that they happily paid the 18-year-old phenomenon pounds 3,000 to sign up.

"It was a lot of money," Boston says today. "To put it in perspective, I remember going to the Challenge Cup final one year when the losers got pounds 7... less tax."

Boston played in six finals, winning three, in a 17-year career, during which his 571 tries put him second only to Brian Bevan in the all-time scorers' list. "We had a good side, although nothing like as successful as the present one. We only trained twice a week and had jobs too."

The son of a West African seaman, Boston was a postal worker for most of his career. He then spent 14 years with an insulation firm before taking over a hotel, The Griffin, next to Wigan's Central Park ground, in 1968. He recently retired, handing the reins - and his collected memorabilia - to his daughter, Angela, one of a family of five children, 14 grandchildren and one great-grandchild.

Now 61, Boston still watches Wigan's home games and never misses a Cup final, even when, as this year, his own team is not taking part. He will be at Wembley on Saturday despite the traumatic experience in February of being knocked down by a stolen car, which left him with a broken leg and broken ribs.