In October 1973, Israel and a coalition of some Arab nations engaged in a conflict known as the Yom Kippur War. The discord commenced when the Arab coalition launched attacks on several Israeli-occupied territories on Yom Kippur or ‘The Day of Atonement’ – the holiest day in Judaism.
The fighting mostly took place in the Golan Heights, Sinai and the other areas under Israeli occupation since the Six-Day War in 1967. Tensions were running high as President Richard Nixon of the United States of America called for a global nuclear alert.
Thousands of kilometres away in England, as per the norm back then, football matches strictly took place on Wednesdays and Saturdays.