In Germany, Bundesliga club Hertha Berlin specially requested a home match on November 9 in order to mark the 30th anniversary of  the day borders in a divided city were opened.

As Hertha and opponents Leipzig took the field at the Olympic stadium last Saturday, hundreds of fans lined up to tear down a symbolic wall erected on the halfway line, bearing a graffiti message in German, translated as, "Together against walls, Together for Berlin."

On the same weekend, many football matches in the British Isles were preceded by silent tributes to those who had lost their lives in war.

Poppies, introduced after the First World War as a symbol of remembrance, are sold each year in support of charities which support former servicemen and their families.

At most grounds, wreaths of poppies are paraded before a symbolic silence is observed.

These poignant ceremonies brought to mind incidents three years ago, when FIFA handed out punishments for wearing poppies during international matches, effectively insisting they were a "political symbol".

The whole episode generated considerable negative publicity for FIFA, but it was not the first time the question had been raised.

In November 2011, FIFA threatened the English Football Association (FA) with punishment after they announced their intention to embroider poppies on  on England's shirts for their match against Spain.

It took an intervention from Prince William, the Duke of Cambridge, who wrote to FIFA in his capacity  as FA President. He asked them to make an "exception in this special circumstance".

A statement from St James' Palace noted that, "The Duke's strong view is the poppy is a universal symbol of remembrance, which has no political, religious or commercial connotations."

In a move many interpreted as a "climbdown", a statement from Zurich insisted, "FIFA understands the wish of the FA to respect and commemorate the lives of members of their armed forces. In addition, FIFA has also given its permission for the poppy to be worn on the England players’ black armbands."

Even so, the world governing body remained guarded about "opening the door to similar initiatives".

So much so that the problem resurfaced in 2016. This time, Remembrance Day coincided with FIFA World Cup qualifiers and England were due to play Scotland at Wembley. Both sides announced they would wear the poppy insignia on their playing strip.  

"We're just pleased that we can honour the sacrifice of those who have gone before us," said the then new England head coach Gareth Southgate.

Scotland captain Darren Fletcher was equally enthusiastic. "First and foremost, I think everyone would love to wear the poppy and wants to wear the poppy to show our respect," he said.

FIFA again pointed to the playing regulations and warned, "For any infringement the player and/or the team will be sanctioned by the competition organiser, National Football Association or to be justified by FIFA."

Although it was not yet clear what form the sanction would take, both nations made clear their determination to proceed with the ceremony.

"We think their interpretation of their rules is actually incorrect," FA chief executive Martin Glenn said.

His Scottish Football Association (SFA) counterpart Stewart Regan also insisted "we don't think the poppy is a political symbol".

Both teams duly wore black armbands with a red poppy and the motif was also displayed on the big screens in the stadium.

Afterwards, England were fined CHF45,000 (£35,000/$45,000/€41,000) with a "warning and reprimand" and the SFA CHF20,000 (£15,500/$20,000/€18,150) again with "a warning and reprimand".

The official FIFA World Cup 2018 Disciplinary Overview for the period described the offences as a "non-approved pre-match ceremony and wearing non-approved armband with political symbol".

In Cardiff, Wales chose to wear plain black armbands without a poppy for their match with Serbia, but a poppy was displayed by spectators as part of a huge mosaic in the stadium.

This earned the FA of Wales a fine of CHF20,000.

Northern Ireland were also punished to the tune of CHF15,000 (£11,500/$15,000/€13,600) after spectators created a similar giant poppy symbol at their match against Azerbaijan in Belfast.

In both cases, the offence was described as by FIFA as, "Improper conduct among spectators (political symbols and banners). Non-approved pre-match ceremony."

Each Association appealed the fine and it remains unclear whether any monies were ever paid.

The Irish FA asked for "clarification" at the next meeting of the International Football Board, the body responsible for the laws of the game. Within months an adjustment to the regulations had been tabled.

New guidance to teams advised that, "When commemorating a significant national or international event, the sensibilities of the opposing team (including its supporters) and the general public should be carefully considered."

Although the regulations remained, this opened the way for the poppy to be worn without risking punishment.

In late 2017, England were due to play a match against Germany at the time of the Remembrance Day anniversary.

The Germans readily agreed and announced they would also wear the poppy. "I positively welcome the decision to allow both the English and the German national teams to wear poppy armbands, because these are not about political propaganda in any way," Reinhard Grindel said, then President of the German Football Association.

"They're about remembering the kind of values that were kicked to the ground in two World Wars but are cherished by football: respect, tolerance, and humanity."

Before the match, the two teams stood on the centre circle together as a trumpeter playing The Last Post.

When the women’s teams of both nations followed suit last Saturday and wore similar poppy insignia on their shirts, the matter scarcely raised any comment.

The whole affair may well serve as a cautionary tale for the International Olympic Committee's Athletes' Commission as the group draws up its code of conduct for Tokyo 2020. 

Their particular focus is rule 50 of the Olympic Charter which states "no kind of political racial or religious propaganda is permitted in any Olympic site".

Double Olympic swimming gold medallist Kirsty Coventry leads the Commission working on the guidelines and suggested: "To protest on a podium where maybe the people next to you don't feel the same way, with whatever it is that you might be protesting, is something we are saying we don't really believe in. There was a strong feeling that they don’t want to see protests on the podium or on the field of play and to keep venues neutral."

Yet protests which were condemned in one era have often been re-evaluated as heroic by later generations.

Perhaps the famous Olympic demonstration remains the "Black Power" salute made by American sprinters Tommie Smith and John Carlos after they received their gold and bronze medals at Mexico City 1968, respectively. It divided opinion in the Olympic world and beyond.

IOC President Avery Brundage brought pressure to bear on the United States Olympic Committee (USOC) to expel the pair from the Athletes' Village.   

"The untypical exhibitionism of these athletes also violates the basic standards of good manners and sportsmanship, which are so highly valued in the United States, and therefore the two men involved are suspended forthwith from the team and ordered to remove themselves from the Olympic Village," said a USOC statement.

When they returned home, Smith and Carlos even received death threats.

Brundage himself was said to be furious that footage of their protest was included in the official film.

Yet last month, the United States Olympic and Paralympic Committee inducted the pair into their "Hall of Fame" over half-a-century after their demonstration.

Carlos told international news agency Reuters, "We realised that after 51 years the greatest invention was not the plane, not the TV not the telephone but the eraser".

It is a lesson many sports administrators would do well to note.