Fueled by four black coffees after just three hours of sleep, Blackburn striker Sam Szmodics made his way from the maternity ward to Ewood Park just hours after giving birth to his second child in February.
His quick run from hospital to pitch and line-up against Norwich for the Championship clash was celebrated by fans on social media and the striker received a special mention from his manager John Eustace in the aftermath of the 1-1 draw.
“I think it’s important that we also send a special message to Sammie Szmodics,” he said. “His wife gave birth this morning, he was in hospital at 2am last night and couldn’t sleep. He came to kick-off at 2pm and said he was ready. His performance today was great.”
Szmodics isn’t the first footballer to play a game just hours after giving birth to a newborn – and he won’t be the last.
Stories about helicopters flying from hospital wards to a game across the country (think Dan James from Leeds in 2021 and Russell Martin from Norwich in 2015) are great stories, but also raise the question of why paternity leave is rare is used or discussed in elite men’s football?
“It’s a taboo subject,” Norwich defender Ben Gibson tells Sky Sports, reflecting on his own experiences in ours Fatherhood in football Series.
“It’s something that players are just expected to get on with and start training again in the next day or two.”
Clubs can and do approve parental leave at the request of players. But in the highly competitive business of football, professional players would do this because they fear what impact it could have on their place in their team.
“In football you are constantly fighting. “Whether it’s winning your place or keeping your place,” lives on Gibson, whose Norwich team will face Leeds in the first leg of the Championship play-off semi-final at Carrow Road on Sunday, according to Sky Sports Football from 11.30am.
“What if your team had a really successful run while you were on paternity leave? Then you might not find your way back into the team, it might take a while.”
“As long as everything is okay [with the birth]If your partner is well, your baby and family are doing well, and they have support, there’s no reason you can’t get back into it. Mine was a bit more complex, but I often think about what it would be like if it was the other way around because I’m not sure my partner would have wanted me to come straight from the hospital! Every situation is different.
The PFA also said leave would vary from player to player, with a spokesperson telling Sky Sports: “The decision to take paternity leave will vary from player to player and will depend on their individual personal circumstances. However, it is important that players know that they have a legal right to take paid paternity leave if they wish.”
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Blackburn Rovers’ Sammie Szmodics talks ‘fatherhood in football’ and explains why he decided to play a game just hours after giving birth to his child
Szmodics, who faced Gibson that day just hours after the birth of his daughter Nellie, discussed the knock-on effect that missing a game can have as he reflected on the arrival of his firstborn, Winter, while he was in Peterborough.
“The birth was a little more traumatic and she [Winter] was in the hospital for the first week. I decided that I wouldn’t leave her side and that I would have done the same with Nellie [his second daughter] “If there had been any problems,” said Szmodics, who became the Championship’s top scorer with 27 goals, including two on the final day at champions Leicester.
“When it comes to family and birth, football is the least important thing,” he added. “I was at Peterborough in the Championship at the time and we needed to win games and I missed a great game in the derby.”
“I watched it when we were in the hospital and it was hard because you want to be at these games. You think you’re going to lose your place, and that’s what football is all about. When you’re away for a while in a game, someone can come in, perform well and score a goal and then you lose your place, but you can’t worry about that when it comes to birth or things outside of you Control lies.”
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Smzodics scored twice in Leicester on the final day of the season
“Wagner put me and my family above him and his job”
This family-first message was equally emphasized by Gibson when discussing the traumatic birth of his second child, Mylie, who was almost three months premature and spent 44 days in intensive care at Norwich Hospital in December.
“I was due to travel with the team and was fit and available on Boxing Day, which would have meant leaving on Boxing Day and staying in a hotel,” Gibson said.
“I didn’t really feel ready to leave the family at that point and was just really worried about my partner. The manager.” [David Wagner] He pulled me aside and I had been going back and forth all week about whether I should see him and luckily he made the decision for me, which I think is always the best way for this scenario to play out.
“He said, ‘Look, I’ve been thinking about things and I think you should stay home with your family. I don’t think it’s right to take you with me’. I will never forget how he was with me. That will stay with me for a very, very long time. He put me and my family before himself and his job.
This support extended across the club: the head chef baked cakes for Gibson to take to the hospital on Christmas Day, other staff offered to help look after her young son, who had just turned one, and were asked : “100 times …” day” how the family was doing.
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Sam Smzodics stormed into Blackburn’s opener against Norwich in February
Meanwhile, first team manager Jonny Martin was first on the scene to break the news to Gibson straight from the pitch after the New Year’s Day game between Norwich and Southampton that he urgently needed to call his partner.
Mylie had stopped breathing several times during the game and his partner Ashley didn’t want to call and disturb Gibson in the middle of the game.
“I always told my partner: look at all the doubts and problems, even if it is the smallest thing. Our family is much more important than any job and that goes for everyone,” Gibson said. “I know it may not always be what football fans want to hear and of course the club and football are very important to me, but my family will always come first in everything.”
Only now, with Mylie happy and healthy at home, can Gibson reflect on the traumatic weeks, but also highlight how football offered him an outlet and a sense of “normalcy,” a distraction while his daughter fought for her life.
“You don’t know how long your baby will be in the hospital, so you have to try to find some sort of normality.” You [Mylie] could have been in there for months. Unfortunately, some babies spend months in the intensive care unit. We were there for 44 days, so you have to find a sense of normality.
This sense of familiarity and routine was also what drove Szmodics when he made his fast sprint for Blackburn earlier this season.
“I was in the hospital from 2am. I had to sleep for about three hours, but luckily the baby was born happy and healthy. Once things calmed down, emotions went through the roof,” said the Republic of Ireland striker.
“On the way from the hospital to the game I called my agent and him laughing and looking back it was a crazy decision. In the first few minutes of the game I was sprinting and I realized I was playing on adrenaline because I was completely exhausted.”
It’s an old saying that football should be more important than life and death – but when it comes to family, there’s almost an exception.
Watch Norwich v Leeds in the Championship play-off semi-final first leg this Sunday from 11:30am live on Sky Sports Football.
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