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Israel's central sporting event in 1983 will be the "12th Hapoel Games" which will mark the 60th anniversary of "HAPOEL", the Israel Workers' Sports Organization. The Games, which are held every four years, will be under the patronage of the President of the State of Israel and the public committee entrusted with organizing the Games, will be headed by the Secretary-General of the Histadrut - the Jewish Labour Federation.
The Games have undergone many changes since they were first held in 1928. They were originally a national meet of members of "HAPOEL" who competed against each other in various branches of sport during a period of several days. As the number of "HAPOEL" members grew, so the contents of the Games changed. Today, the Games mark the culmination of the activities of Israel's largest sports organization and take the form of hundreds of events all over the country, built around the national and international competitive events. The first Games to be held in the State of Israel were in the year 1952 - the 5th in number - to which sportsmen from workers' sports organizations from overseas were invited to participate.
This international participation gave the Games an added distinction and created great interest among sportsmen in Israel and abroad. Since then outstanding sportsmen from abroad have been invited to take part in special invitation events, held as part of the Games, which have become part of the international sports scene. The 11th Games, the largest held so far, was honoured by the participation of some of the world's outstanding athletes.
The fact that the Games take place one year before the Olympic Games, gives sportsmen the opportunity of preparing themselves for the Olympic competition.
"HAPOEL" is affiliated to the International Workers' Sports Organization (CSIT) and an important part of the 12th Games will be five world championship events for sportsmen-workers: gymnastics; handball; volleyball; tennis and water polo.
In addition to the competitive events and displays, numerous sporting events will be held with the participation of thousands of young people and adults: races; marches; sports contests between employees from different workplaces; sporting events held in the countryside, and P.T. contests for members of youth movements, schoolchildren, women's organizations, pensioners, etc.
To bring the message of the "HAPOEL" Games to all parts of the country, dozens of folklore evenings, folk dancing and mass callisthenics events will take place at locations throughout Israel.
