THIS SATURDAY AT Holywood Rugby Club in Belfast, the annual South African Day takes place. Last year, around 1,500 people attended and they’re expecting an even bigger crowd this time.
They’ll enjoy the South African barbecue known as a braai, as well as plenty of biltong – dried, cured meat from back home – and other South African food and drinks. They’ll reminisce about their homeland and those who speak Afrikaans will blow off the cobwebs of their native language.
The most recent UK census in 2021 recorded 2,627 South African-born people living in Northern Ireland. And that number seems to have grown in the years since.
Robbie Diack and his wife, Kirsty, are part of the South African diaspora in Belfast. It was rugby that brought them over initially, Diack joining Ulster in 2008 at the same time as BJ Botha. Diack played for the province 205 times over a decade and won two caps for Ireland in the back row in 2014 after qualifying through the residency rule.
Their first son, Fletcher, was born in Belfast but their second boy, Gray, was born in South Africa when they moved home after Diack retired in 2018.
They settled close to Durban, living near relatives and old friends. Diack worked in real estate and even though Covid made that industry more challenging, they were happy.
But after three-and-a-half years back in South Africa, they felt the lure of Belfast again. For the second time, it was a job opportunity for Diack that was impossible to resist, although very different from rugby.
They returned to Belfast in late 2021 when Diack started working with Axial3D, a medical imaging company that specialises in 3D printing.
“There was a little bit of unrest in South Africa, some political issues, and Covid had come around, but getting the opportunity I’ve got over here at the moment in Belfast in a medical imaging company in AI, it was like trying to find a needle in a haystack in South Africa,” says Diack of the decision to return.
“We knew Belfast well, had a group of close friends, we knew the schooling system. We bit the bullet and we always thought that we can enjoy what South Africa has to offer during holidays and live in Belfast.”
Kirsty has also done well on the work front since coming back nearly three years ago, steadily building her book as a financial advisor.
Diack says they do miss South Africa, including its good weather, and breaking the news to their sons was probably the hardest part.
“I’ll never forget the moment we told them we were coming back to Belfast and Fletcher was in tears,” says Diack. “All he knew was his grandparents and his friends, he didn’t want to leave them.”
But Fletcher was soon involved in local sports clubs, made friends in Campbell College, and began heading for Ravenhill with his dad on Friday nights to support Ulster.
“As parents, we always wonder if we made the right decision coming back to Belfast and sacrificing what we had in South Africa so we’re always asking them just to get the reassurance that they’re happy,” says Diack.
“At the end of the day, all you want as a father is for your wife and children to be happy. My wife misses her family, of course, but our kids seem to be really happy.”
Nine-year-old Fletcher is a massive Ulster and Ireland fan. And his father says it has been a pleasure getting to be at Ulster games in a different guise. He has done punditry work with BBC radio and TV, as well as just being a fan.
Diack loved playing but having his weekends free for family time has been a great joy since retirement. When he takes Fletcher and Gray along to games, Diack can also see what it means to young supporters when players make an effort to engage.
“They both thrive off it. They love the singing and they love the players. I never realised it when I was playing, the impact that we had as professional athletes on young boys and girls.
“I look at my son now and how he idolises certain players like Ethan McIlroy and Rob Herring. If he gets one signature or high five or a boot, it means more to these boys than you could ever imagine. You only realise that when you have your own kids and they meet their heroes.”
The Diack boys will also surely take more and more pride in their dad’s rugby exploits as they grow up, although his Ireland and Ulster jerseys have been in storage since the move back to Belfast. They were hanging in the home the Diacks built in South Africa and Robbie plans to give them pride of place again in the future.
The first time he came to Belfast to join Ulster, Diack’s application for a working visa was smoothed by the fact that he had a grandfather who was born in England.
Six years later, he and Kirsty officially became citizens of the UK and got their passports.
“As a South African, to have another passport is an amazing asset, especially if you can pass it down to your family,” says Diack. “It can be tricky to get here initially, but once you’re here a lot of folks try to make the most of it and get that citizenship.
“Even just trying to get to Europe and the United States, it’s a lot easier with a European or British passport.”
That citizenship sums up how big a part of Diack’s life Belfast has been.
He says the family may end up in South Africa again in the future but they love where they are now, back in the house on the outskirts of Belfast that they originally bought in 2013. It’s 10 minutes to the coast, 10 minutes to the countryside, 10 minutes to the city centre, and with lots of good schools around.
Diack is excited by the economic buzz in Belfast, with tech companies and start-ups giving the place an energy he feeds off. He has met bankers who spend the weeks working in London but return home for weekends in Belfast, where their kids are enjoying school and the lifestyle.
“It’s similar to South Africa here in that there’s a community feel,” says Diack. “Once you’re part of a school and a neighbourhood, there’s a real community buy-in and people look after each other. We’ve felt that over here.”
Having already had one thrilling career in Belfast with his rugby, Diack is loving this second lease of life.
“That’s something special for me, to know I’ve got over that daunting period of retiring from professional sports,” says Diack.
“You have some dark days, you miss the structure of rugby, that routine of knowing where we’ve got to be at each time, what we’re wearing, what we’re doing, what we’re eating and drinking. You go from 10 years of that to no routine.
“I’ve got friends who are retiring soon and they don’t have a clue what to do. For me to look back at retiring at the age of 32 to being where I am now, I’m very grateful.”
