Minister of Youth Affairs and Sports, Namal Rajapaksa has taken a bold step out of the box to build a National Sports economy worth one billion Dollars by the year 2025. In achieving his vision, he has earmarked some sports which can contribute immensely to the national economy by commercializing the sports, like the rest of the developed world. Apart from Cricket, Football, Basketball, Rugby, Hockey and Kabaddi are some of the sports which are likely to get a facelift in the coming months.
It is likely that these sports will tie up with private partnership and gain private investments as a new business sector matching international trends.
Currently, the most awaited and much anticipated cricketing extravaganza, Lanka Premier League(LPL), is now around the corner and likely to take a new turn in the Sri Lankan cricketing history. This format is expected to bring many benefits to cricket as well as to the Nation. Among them, identifying potential local talent and contribution towards building a sports economy are the remarkable features.
It is widely believed that the next big sporting event in the country is Football - the most popular game in the World. Although from a Sri Lankan perspective football is sitting in the bottom of the World and Asian rankings, it is considered to be the sleeping giant. It was due to poor vision and lethargy of the administrators for decades which led to the downfall of the game.
The Sports Minister’s holistic approach and modern thinking to separate development and commercializing part of sport is a wise strategy to take sports to next level. In accordance with this vision, all National Associations should now concentrate on development, coach education and national teams, which are a few important components of sports. The commercializing part and initiating new competition likes LPL should be done by the private sector as a new window in the sporting business. All Sporting Associations and their respective sportsmen will benefit heavily once this concept becomes a reality.
FFSL has planned to kick off the first professional football league in the country under the name “Super League”, the inauguration of which unfortunately had to be postponed many times due to COVID-19 pandemic. It is anticipated that in January next year this professional football league will be amalgamated with the Sports Minister’s concept of private investment, and a new facelift will be given to this all-important backbone in football - the professional football league. It was also learnt the Minister is also looking at organizing a city-based IPL type football event under his purview in July next year with six cities put together in a franchise model.
Football is widely played in all parts of Sri Lanka and can connect communities without borders. Through football wider reconciliation, increased health benefits, reduced crime activities, unparalleled entertainment can be achieved. This why the talk in the sporting circles is that, “Next big event in sporting calendar in the country is Football.”
The Football fraternities believes and are pretty confident that the Sports Minister has already embarked on his new football journey to be kicked off from with the dawn of the New Year.
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