1893: England-Scotland at Richmond Park and Princess Mary

And no, it's not the Euro '96 one.

This story, which centres on a match played on April 1, 1893, involves Richmond Park, a barefooted princess and surely one of the most incredible characters ever to play football professionally.

It was unearthed by Writer and Author Mark Metcalf, the author of a biography of the story's central figure, the legendary Fred Spikesly (1870-1948).

"His entire life is just a good, beautiful story," Mark told the RTT.

Spikesley is known for all manner of escapades both on and off the field, and was wildly successful as both a player and later a coach in Sweden, Mexico and Germany.

He also played a pivotal role in a dramatic match between England and Scotland in front of some 20,000 people crowded around a pitch drawn out somewhere in Richmond Park.

The Remarkable Story of Fred Spikesley by Mark Metcalf

England came out 5-2 winners of a back and forth tussle between the two sides, and Spikesley scored three goals for England in what was according to Mark the first ever hat-trick scored by an England player against Scotland (only two more players have ever replicated the feat).

"Spikesley had been attributed two goals rather than three. So we knew we had to do more research on this.

"What we did was look at statements from people who played in the game or witnessed the game and they all confirmed that Spikesley scored a hat-trick.

"We're interested in it because we are football fans but it's an astonishing story for everyone from the social side of things," Mark said.

Indeed, Spikesley's match-winning hat-trick against the Scots was not even the most incredible event in the game.

That came courtesy Princess Mary of Teck, who later became queen when George V (Queen Elizabeth II's grandfather) was crowned king in 1910.

Princess Mary of Teck, who sprinted bare foot up the touchline shouting 'Come On Fred!' during the game

As would emerge over the coming decades in anecdotes and at least one newspaper report from 1933, at a crucial moment in the game when Spikesley was on the ball, Prince Mary ran barefooted up the touchline, shouting 'Come On Fred!' As she did.

"It was the first time royalty turned up to such an occasion. It was a big day, the biggest game in the world at that time along with the FA cup.

"And for a princess to run up and down the touchline and reportedly shout 'Come On Fred!' That's amazing," Mark said.

Indeed, his own account of the story, available here, was corroborated by much anecdotal evidence and a report in the Daily Express published decades later in 1933 and titled 'When Queen Mary Ran Up And Down A Football Pitch'.

Image via Mark Metcalf

The late 19th century was an era when women continued to assert themselves and their own rights, and saw the formation of movements for women's suffrage that would become the Suffragists and Suffragettes campaigns.

Yet the sight of a future queen, literally sprinting down the touchline in her bare feet, cheering on one of the heroes of the match, was totally unprecedented and has surely never been replicated again.

Though the royals still do occasionally turn up for international sporting fixtures, it seems unlikely any of them would consider copying Princess Mary's touchline heroics.

"It's totally and utterly amazing that this happened, which is why it appears to have been hushed up," Mark said, speaking after years of painstaking research into the game and Spikesley's life more generally.

"It took a while for this to come out. It emerged because people eventually came to writing their memoires, and I imagine it caused quite a kerfuffle at the time.

"Princess Mary appears to have been completely engaged in the whole the event as well as most of the crowd," Mark said.

Only time will tell whether England and Scotland's clash at Wembley on Friday (June 18), 8pm, can live up to the 1893, Richmond Park edition. It seems unlikely.