{"id":408927,"date":"2026-02-05T08:15:13","date_gmt":"2026-02-05T08:15:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/408927\/"},"modified":"2026-02-05T08:15:13","modified_gmt":"2026-02-05T08:15:13","slug":"sir-billy-boston-and-fielden-honoured-at-lions-reunion","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/408927\/","title":{"rendered":"Sir Billy Boston and Fielden honoured at Lions reunion"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Sir Billy Boston was the toast of the recent 2026 Rugby League Lions Association Annual Reunion Lunch which saw stuart fielden receive his lions heritage certifcate.<\/p>\n<p>Sir Billy, who became the first man to be knighted for his Rugby League achievements in the King\u2019s Birthday Honours last summer, ensured there were representatives from seven decades of touring present \u2013 having made a stunning impact with the 1954 Lions after moving to Wigan from Cardiff. <\/p>\n<p>The 91-year-old received a standing ovation by guests present when he took to the stage to share memories of his time on the 1966 Great Britain tour alongside Ian Brooke and Colin Clarke.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"768\" data-id=\"72746\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/Sir-Billy-Boston-Colin-Clarke-1024x768.webp.webp\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-72746\"  \/><\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"768\" data-id=\"72747\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/Sir-Billy-Boston-Colin-Clarke-1-1024x768.webp.webp\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-72747\"  \/><\/p>\n<p>The annual lunch featured a number of new attendees from more recent Lions tours; including Karl Harrison, Daryl Powell and Paul Sculthorpe MBE , who were presented with their Heritage Certificates by Alan Smith, the former Leeds and Great Britain winger. <\/p>\n<p>Former Warrior Stuart Fielden, alongside James Roby, was presented with his certificates by Brian Noble MBE, who coached the duo in the 2006 Tri-Nations series when the Lions claimed a famous win in Sydney. <\/p>\n<p>Abi Ekoku, the Interim CEO of the Rugby Football League, also received a Heritage Certificate having been Great Britain\u2019s team manager for that 2006 Tri-Nations Series, as did Jon Sharp, who was one of Noble\u2019s assistant coaches. <\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"768\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/Stuart-Fielden-1024x768.webp.webp\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-72750\"  \/><\/p>\n<p>Abi Ekoku said: \u201cIt was a personal privilege and very special pleasure to attend my first Lions lunch on Sunday alongside a number of others who were attending the event for the first time. I was energised by what was an extremely impressive and enjoyable occasion. <\/p>\n<p>\u201cInternational representation is the pinnacle of sporting achievement, and it\u2019s vitally important we as a sport continue to celebrate heroes of the past. \u00a0The Lions Luncheon delivered the perfect platform for some of the very best the sport has produced to meet, reflect and share their memories and achievements. <\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt was a truly fantastic occasion, capped off by having Sir Billy Boston, Colin Clarke and Ian Brooke share a stage together. \u00a0It\u2019s something I will never forget and sincerely hope to remain a part of the event moving forward.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>For further details of how to support the Rugby League Benevolent Fund, click <a href=\"https:\/\/rugbyleaguecares.org\/benevolent-fund\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">HERE<\/a>. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Sir Billy Boston was the toast of the recent 2026 Rugby League Lions Association Annual Reunion Lunch which&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":408928,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[35],"tags":[5903,101,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-408927","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-rugby","tag-rugby","tag-sports","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/408927","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=408927"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/408927\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/408928"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=408927"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=408927"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=408927"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}