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Panhellenic Games: part two
The departure of the Panhellenic Gymnastic Society and the Panaitolikos from the SEAGS in 1902 practically signified the split of the Association,  which was for that reason unable to organize the Panhellenic Games in 1902 and 1903. Therefore, the second Panhellenic Games were held after the reunification of the SEAGS in 1904. In those games participated only 8 associations, 4 less in relation to 1901. The Panhellenic Games continued to be held on an annual basis until 1912. However, from the following year and until 1924 they had been cancelled several times. More precisely, they were not organized in 1913 due to the Balkan Wars, whereas the games of 1915-1916 and 1918 were cancelled due to the political tension resulting from the National Schism ("Ethnikos Dichasmos") and World War I respectively. Lastly, the war and the defeat of the Greek army in Asia Minor led to the cancellation of the Panhellenic Games of 1921-1923.
In that period, which was full of tensions, and during which the limits of the irredentist policy of the Greek State were tried, and with the sole exception of the Games of 1906, in all the other panhellenic sports organizations participated associations that were not active inside the Greek territory. There were two characteristic cases, the Panhellenic Games of 1907, where had participated 13 associations, among which 2 were from Smyrna and 3 from Constantinople, Limassol and Cairo and the games of 1925, which were organized in Cyprus by the Gymnastic Association Olympia of Limassol, a particularly active sports association and founding member of the SEAGS. In these games, which were the first and only ones to be held outside the Greek territory, took part 6 associations from Cyprus, 1 from Alexandria and 9 from Greece, among which the Panionios and the Apollo, which had been founded in Smyrna and now pursued their activity in Athens
In 1926 the Panhellenic Games were once again held in Athens, while in 1927 they were held for the first time in Thessaloniki. The organization was assigned to Hercules, an association founded in 1908 and which had participated for the first time in the Panhellenic Games in 1914, that is right after the end of the Balkan Wars and the incorporation of Thessaloniki in the Greek State. It was the first time that an association from Thessaloniki took part in Panhellenic Games, although in 1906 athletes from Thessaloniki had participated in the Interim Olympics. What is more, the athletes' uniforms were black, as a symbolic gesture referring to the request for Union with Greece.
A turning point in the organization of the games was the year 1929, when the SEGAS, as the SEAGS was renamed in 1928, decided to organize two parallel "championships", one for North Greece and one for South Greece. The former would be organized in Thessaloniki under the responsibility of Hercules and the latter in Athens organized by the SEGAS. These championships would constitute a criterion for the participation of the athletes in the Panhellenic Games, in which would take part only the first three winners in each contest of the two championships. In the championship of the North participated almost 100 athletes from the 11 associations of Macedonia and Thrace and in the championship of the South almost 160 athletes from equal in number associations. Nevertheless, that year the Panhellenic Games were not held. The same system was followed in the next year. However, the Panhellenic Games that were organized in Thessaloniki were not successful. Therefore, from 1931 the institution of the Panhellenic Games returned to its earlier form with the abolition of the "preliminary" character of the championships of North and South Greece.
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