Vithana Arachchige Sugathadasa,

OBE The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding valuable service in a wide range of useful activities. It comprises five classes of awards across both civil and military divisions, the most senior two o ...

(7 July 1912 – 10 July 1973) was a

Sri Lanka Sri Lanka, officially the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka, also known historically as Ceylon, is an island country in South Asia. It lies in the Indian Ocean, southwest of the Bay of Bengal, separated from the Indian subcontinent, ...

n politician. He served as the first Minister of Sports and twice as the

Mayor of Colombo The Mayor of Colombo is the elected head of the Colombo Municipal Council. The post was created in 1866 when the Colombo Municipal Council was established by the Legislative Council of Ceylon. The mayor is assisted by the deputy mayor and a Munic ...

Early life

Born to a wealthy business family, he had two siblings. He was educated at

St. Benedict's College, Colombo St. Benedict's College ( Sinhala: සාන්ත බෙනඩික් විදුහල, Tamil: புனித ஆசீர்வாதப்பர் கல்லூரி) is a Catholic school located in the Kotahena area of Colombo, Sri L ...

and

Ananda College Ananda College () is a Prestigious Buddhist school in Colombo, Sri Lanka. It is often known as "The Pinnacle of buddhist education " It is the largest national Buddhist school for boys in Sri Lanka, with a student population exceeding 8000 ac ...

Political career

Colombo Municipal Council

Sugathadasa entered politics having been elected to the

Colombo Municipal Council The Colombo Municipal Council is the municipal governing body of Colombo, the largest city and financial centre in Sri Lanka. It consists of a directly elected executive Mayor of Colombo, and elected 119 municipal councilors. The council was f ...

as a municipal councillor from the Kochchikade ward as an independent candidate. He later joined the

United National Party The United National Party (UNP; , ) is a Centre-right politics, centre-right political party in Sri Lanka. Founded in 1946, the party was one of Sri Lanka's two main parties for several decades. The UNP has served as the country's ruling party ...

and was elected Deputy Mayor in 1949. On 6 March 1956 he was elected

, defeating Dr

N. M. Perera Nanayakkarapathirage Martin Perera, commonly known as Dr. N. M. Perera ( Sinhala එන්.එම්.පෙරේරා ; 6 June 1904 – 14 August 1979), was one of the leaders of the Sri Lankan Trotskyist Lanka Sama Samaja Party (LSSP). He w ...

. He held the post until 1 December 1957. He was again elected as Mayor of Colombo on 12 January 1960 and served until 10 January 1963.

Parliament

Sugathadasa first ran for the multi-member constituency of Colombo Central at the 1st parliamentary elections held in 1947. He polled seventh out of fifteen candidates, receiving 4,898 votes (4.8% of the total vote). He stood again for Colombo Central at the 3rd parliamentary election, held in April 1956, finishing in fifth place out of seven candidates, with 18,234 votes (12.3% of the total vote). He was successful at the 4th parliamentary election, held on 19 March 1960, where he was elected to parliament representing Colombo North, obtaining 9,446 (41.6% of the total vote) and unseating the sitting member,

Vivienne Goonewardene Violet Vivienne Goonewardene (, ; 18 September 19163 October 1996), commonly known as "Vivi", was a Sri Lankan anti-colonial activist and prominent politician, serving as one of the world's first female ministers. A key figure in both the Indian ...

. He was able to retain the seat at the July 1960 general election, increasing his majority to 50.1% of the total vote. He was subsequently re-elected at the 1965 parliamentary elections and the 1970 election. In 1966, he was appointed as the first Minister of Sports by Prime Minister

Dudley Senanayake Dudley Shelton Senanayake (Sinhala language, Sinhala: ඩඩ්ලි ශෙල්ටන් සේනානායක: ; 19 June 1911 – 13 April 1973), was a Sri Lankan wikt:statesman, statesman who thrice served as Prime Minister of C ...

and served until 1970. He also served as Chairman of the National Olympic and Commonwealth Games Committee and was the President of the Ceylon Lawn Tennis Association from 1958 to 1968. He died on 10 July 1973, at the age of 61, whilst still a sitting member of parliament. His position in parliament was filled by Vincent Perera, who successfully contested the by-election for the seat in September 1973.

Honours

In 1955 he was made an Officer in the

Order of the British Empire The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding valuable service in a wide range of useful activities. It comprises five classes of awards across both civil and military divisions, the most senior two o ...

in the

New Years Honours list The New Year Honours is a part of the British honours system, with New Year's Day, 1 January, being marked by naming new members of orders of chivalry and recipients of other official honours. A number of other Commonwealth realms also mark this ...

. The

Sugathadasa Stadium Sugathadasa Stadium is a multi-purpose stadium in Colombo, Sri Lanka. It is currently used for football (soccer), football, Rugby union, rugby union, and Athletics in Jamaica, athletics. The stadium holds 25,000 people and has an on-site hotel. ...

, was named in his honour, having been built on land donated by Sugathadasa.

References

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Sugathadasa, V. A. 1912 births 1973 deaths Sports ministers of Sri Lanka Members of the 4th Parliament of Ceylon Members of the 5th Parliament of Ceylon Members of the 6th Parliament of Ceylon Members of the 7th Parliament of Ceylon United National Party politicians Ceylonese Officers of the Order of the British Empire People from British Ceylon