Jack loves getting to know all his Glasgow family
Born and raised in North Shore, Sydney, and with 14 Wallaby caps to his name, Jack Dempsey appears at first sight to be as fair dinkum Australian as they come.
But the 27-year-old back-rower has deep Scottish roots and that was key to his decision to turn his back on international rugby for the time being and head north to join Glasgow Warriors for the coming season.
“My maternal grandfather – Andrew Prentice – was born and raised in Glasgow, and he met my grandmother, who was Australian, over here,” explained Dempsey.
“They moved from Glasgow to out in the sticks of Western Sydney, and bought this little shed which my grandad built into the house my mum was brought up in.
“It was our childhood home where we went for Christmas and Easter. My memories are of him being out the back, digging holes and building stuff. He was very hands-on.
“And he had this really thick Glaswegian accent. He passed away when I was 12 but I was lucky to have that in my life and now I’m meeting his whole family over here. I was taken out by my cousins to where he grew up and everything like that on my first weekend here. It’s good to have that connection.
“I think the oldest surviving relative is 91,” he added. “I haven’t met her yet but apparently she is a bit of a rugby nut so, hopefully, we can get the whole clan together and watch a bit of rugby.
“Also, speaking to my mum back home, she learned about it all when she was growing up and she loves that ancestry stuff. But she has never got to come over here so once Covid finishes up hopefully she will get that chance.”
While the family link is great, Dempsey is quick to stress that the chief motivation for his move to Scotland is to progress his rugby career.
He knows that he is unlikely to be considered for selection by Australia again until he returns home. But he reckons his chances of wearing the gold would have been fairly limited anyway because he needed to shake up his career.
“I was feeling I had plateaued over the last couple of years back home with my club side,” he explained.
“I was lucky enough to play in the 2019 World Cup but coming out of that I didn’t think I was growing as much as I could and should, so that made me want to get more experiences
“Once I made that decision to leave, I looked at clubs and when the opportunity to come to Glasgow arose it ticked all the right boxes.”