Rugby league isn’t necessarily the most popular sport in Wales, but a few names from the sport are household names in Wales. A statue has just been unveiled in honour of three of the most influential rugby leaguers in history. Billy Boston MBE, Clive Sullivan MBE and Gus Risman now feature prominently in Cardiff bay for all to look on and remember.
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00:00 [Street noise]
00:09 Take a walk through Cardiff Bay and you might notice something new.
00:12 A statue dedicated to some of Cardiff's most influential sporting heroes
00:16 has just been unveiled and is part of a wider push to showcase the diversity Cardiff has
00:21 and the impact people from ethnic minorities have had over the city
00:24 and over sport across Wales and the UK.
00:27 [Street noise]
00:32 This statue just behind me is dedicated to rugby's code breakers as they're so called
00:36 and it's the first statue of non-fictionalised named black men anywhere in Wales.
00:40 The names of these three sporting titans are Billy Boston, Clive Sullivan and Gus Risman.
00:45 Billy Boston, MBE, born in 1934 just a few miles away here in Tiger Bay
00:50 is possibly better known in the north of England than here in South Wales.
00:53 He was a Wigan rugby league legend and has even had a stand named after him
00:57 at Wigan's old home ground Central Park.
01:00 Boston was seen as a living legend at the club and his 15 years playing for the side
01:04 are some of the most talked about in their history still to this day
01:08 after scoring a record 478 tries which is a record that still stands.
01:13 During his playing career he also represented Great Britain 31 times
01:17 and was part of the squad that won the 1960 Rugby League World Cup.
01:21 He's part of the Rugby League Hall of Fame, Wigan's Hall of Fame
01:24 and Welsh Sports Hall of Fame's role of honours list.
01:27 His impact on the sport is almost immeasurable.
01:31 Also featured just next to Boston is Clive Sullivan, MBE,
01:35 another man whose impact far outreaches his roots here in Cardiff.
01:38 Born in 1943, possibly Sullivan's most important claim
01:42 is that he was Great Britain's first black captain in any sport.
01:45 He was influential over the city of Hull and after his death from cancer in 1985
01:50 aged just 42, the main road into the city was named in his honour, Clive Sullivan Way.
01:56 Similarly to Billy Boston, Clive Sullivan also holds the record for most tries for his side
02:00 with 250 for Hull FC and won the Rugby League World Cup in 1972.
02:05 He is also listed on Welsh Sports Hall of Fame's role of honours list.
02:10 The third man in this iconic statue is Gus Risman.
02:16 Born back in 1911 to Russian immigrant parents,
02:19 he played a little earlier than the other two and was one of the first superstars of the sport.
02:23 He is seen as one of the greatest players ever
02:26 and is part of the Rugby League statue in Wembley Stadium.
02:30 Risman played his trade with Salford and Workington
02:33 and is part of the Rugby League in Workington Halls of Fame
02:36 as well as being named on Welsh Sports Hall of Fame's role of honours list.
02:40 He also has a street and training facility named after him in Workington.
02:46 These three are absolute icons of Welsh sport
02:49 and although Rugby League isn't as popular as Union here in Wales,
02:52 the names and now faces of these codebreakers
02:55 will long be remembered by everyone who comes through here.
02:58 Here's Pete Watkins, Local TV, Cardiff Bay.
03:01 Kinslocal TV Cardiff Bay.