A Sports Minister Whose Name Stood For 'Vision'
V.A. Sugathadasa OBE who was born today in 1912, is best remembered for his generous contributions as Mayor of Colombo, and his services as Ceylon's First Minister of Sports.
You know about the Sugathadasa Stadium but what about the man who previously owned that plot of land and had the vision to build the first multi-sport stadium in the country? He's none other than Ceylon's (Ceylon back then) first Minister of Sports Mr. Vithana Arachchige Sugathadasa OBE.
Born on a day like this in 1912, he was educated first at St. Benedict’s College and subsequently Ananda College, captaining the Football teams of both schools. Having entered into politics and firstly in the Colombo Municipality, he became the Deputy Mayor of Colombo in 1949 and in 1956, he ousted Dr. N.M. Perera to become the Mayor of Colombo till 1957, and was re-elected in 1963 to 1965.
‘V’ stands for Visionary, and that was what he was, a man with a vision to take sports in Ceylon to the international level when he was appointed as the country’s first Minister of Sports in 1966 under Dudley Senanayake’s third term as Prime Minister. It should be noted that he received an OBE from Her Majesty the Queen in 1955 in the New Year Honours List, much before his greater contributions under the capacity as the Sports Minister.
The Sugathadasa Stadium we know today, used to be a plot of land owned by Mr. Sugathadasa who came from a wealthy family. He donated the part that was owned by him, even spending his own wealth and with the help of other donors, built a floodlit stadium which was named after him. It was the first outdoor stadium in the country at the time, having an athletics track and a football pitch in the middle, which has hosted many international matches till the present.
Similarly, the Welagedara Stadium in Kurunegala which was opened in 1967 was also part of grand scale sports infrastructure development projects. As an administrator, he served as the President of the National Olympic Committee of Sri Lanka from 1962 to 1973, and President of the Ceylon Lawn Tennis Association (now SLTA) from 1958 to 1968.
During his term at the Colombo Municipality, he was largely remembered for uplifting the living standards of the poor, which was notable other than his contribution to sports. He passed away 3 days after his 61st birthday in 1973 and a remembrance ceremony is held every year at the statue in front of the stadium built from his utmost love and generosity to Sri Lankan sports.
