It is now less than five months until the XXI Commonwealth Games begin on the Gold Coast of Australia, on Wednesday 4 April 2018. The fifth time Australia has hosted the games, the multi-sport event has been held every four years since 1930, when it was known as the British Empire Games.
Following a similar format to the Olympics, the Commonwealth Games sees the 52 member states of the Commonwealth send a total of 70 teams, due to the fact several dependent territories send their own teams, to compete in a number of disciplines, some of them only played widely in these countries.
Sports such as cricket, squash, lawn bowls, and netball feature due to their popularity throughout the Commonwealth, whereas they are nowhere to be found in the Olympics. It also differs from its larger cousin by including para-sports in the main programme of events, allowing disabled athletes to compete during the same fortnight as their able-bodied counterparts.
In 2018, the Overseas journal will be devoting an entire edition to sport to coincide with the Games to continue ROSL's connection with the event. Take a look below at an article from 1982, from Sandy Duncan, then honorary Secretary of the Commonwealth Games Federation.
