‘Even the Maldinis only have three’ – the Sussex family celebrating four football generations and a bit of history

It was the moment Jack Hinshelwood made his Albion Premier League debut, replacing Denis Undav for the final minutes of the Seagulls’ final game of a remarkable season. In doing so, he became the fourth generation of direct descendants in his family to make an appearance in the English league.

And it is believed no other family has ever achieved such a feat in the English game.

The Hinshelwood football story began with Wally Hinshelwood, an outside right who in a career running from 1947 to 1962 played for Fulham, Chelsea, Reading, Bristol City, Millwall and Newport County.

His son Paul Hinshelwood was well-known and highly regarded in the game – best known for his ten years at Crystal Palace from 1973 to 1983 when he was part of their famous ‘team of the 80s’ who reached the old First Division. Paul also played for Oxford, Colchester and Millwall.

Adam Hinshelwood – high profile these days as the successful manager of Worthing FC – made 100 appearances for Brighton between 2002 and 2009 and also played in the Football League for Wycombe and Aldershot, before his playing career was cut short by a serious injury.

And now Jack has kept the family’s amazing Football League record going with what he hopes will be the first of many appearanaces in a Brighton shirt.

That’s not the extent of the Hinshelwood dynasty either – Wally’s other son was Martin, who played for Crystal Palace for much of the 1970s before going on to manager Brighton and other sides in Sussex, and his son Danny has spells with Portsmouth, Torquay and Brighton.

Dad Adam was among family members at Villa Park to see Jack’s big moment – rich reward for the 18-year-old midfielder after an impressive season for the club’s U21s.

"As far as we know, no other family has had four generations playing in the league in this way – even the Maldinis have only had three, so it’s not bad is it!?" joked Adam.

"We found out over the weekend of the Villa game that Jack was going to be on the bench and the club were good enough to get us some tickets to go up and watch.

"It was great but we didn’t think Jack would get on. Roberto De Zerbi made two changes at half-time then another two after 65 minutes and we thought that was that. But then Jack came on in the 89th minute and it was a proud moment for everyone.

"He said afterwards he wasn’t impressed with his first touch – but he did then run 40 or 50 yards to make up for it, so he did okay! He’s done very well at Brighton and been very well looked after so we’re hoping for more next season.”

And Jack is not even the last in the Hinshelwood production line. Apart from the prospect of a fifth generation in the future, Adam’s youngest son Teddy is eight and a keen footballer himself … and has also just been signed by Brighton.