The criticism never made sense

Jeremy Doku wanting to be present at the birth of his first child is not a distraction. It is not unprofessional. It is not even a story — or it should not be. The fact that it became one tells you everything about how some corners of football still think players are assets first and human beings second.

Let's be straight about what actually happened here. Doku wanted to fly home to be with his partner for the birth of their first child. That request — in any normal workplace — would not be controversial. In football, a section of people treated it like a disciplinary matter. That reaction deserved the backlash it got.

Football does not own these men

The idea that footballers owe their clubs total physical availability is one of the oldest and most corrosive myths in the sport. Clubs pay wages. They do not purchase lives.

There is a long, grim tradition of managers and clubs pressuring players to miss family moments in the name of the game. We have heard the stories. Training camps during births. Players told to return within 24 hours. Some pushed to skip the moment entirely. The fact that those stories exist as accepted lore, rather than as scandals, is the problem.

Doku is twenty-three years old and about to become a father for the first time. That happens once. A league match, a training session, even a cup final — those come around again. That moment does not.

The solidarity was real and it mattered

What has shifted this time is the response. Players, pundits, and supporters pushed back loudly. The consensus was not "we understand both sides." It was "this is obvious — let the man go."

That matters. Football culture changes slowly and usually only when people refuse to accept the old rules as permanent. The pile-on against those questioning Doku was not cancel culture. It was the sport correctly identifying a bad take and saying so at volume.

Gary Lineker, Ian Wright, players from across the league — the voices defending Doku were not outliers. They were the majority. When that becomes the majority, the culture starts to shift.

The wider picture

This is not the first time a Black player in English football has faced a different standard. We are not saying every critic of Doku was motivated by that. But it would be dishonest to ignore the pattern entirely. Black players in the Premier League have consistently found their professionalism questioned in ways that others are not. Their commitment doubted. Their priorities scrutinised.

Doku is one of the most electric players in European football right now. His directness, his pace, the way he pulls defences apart — that does not happen without total dedication to the game. Nobody who performs at that level is skiving. The suggestion, even implicitly, that flying home for the birth of your child signals a lack of commitment is absurd on its face.

What clubs should actually do

Paternity provisions in football need codifying and protecting. Right now they exist in a grey area where a manager's mood or a club's culture determines what a player can access. That is not good enough.

The PFA exists for moments like this. Push for a standardised paternity protocol across the top four divisions. Minimum days guaranteed. No pressure, no negotiation, no side conversations about form or squad selection. You become a parent, you get the time. Full stop.

Until that is formalised, individual players will keep having to fight for what should be automatic. And some will not have the platform Doku has.

Our verdict

Football got this one right. The criticism of Doku was misplaced and the solidarity that followed was genuine. But the real test is not whether we defend one player in one moment. It is whether the sport builds the structures to make this a non-issue for every player who comes after him. We are not there yet. This week was a step. Make it more than that.

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Image via [Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/J%C3%A9r%C3%A9my_Doku) / Wikimedia Commons