“Call Us a Bunch of Convicts and Criminals”: When Leigh Diffey Revealed How Moving to America from the UK Was a Hard Transition

Leigh Diffey became a fan-favorite commentator after calling races in the latter half of the 2024 Cup Series season. He was a part of the NBC Sports team and will be returning to the booth this year as well. In a recent interview with Awful Announcing, he spoke about the hardest geographical transitions that he has undergone in his long career.

An Australian by birth, Diffey moved to the United Kingdom in 2000 to work for BBC as the lead commentator of the Superbike World Championship. In 2002, he moved to the United States to cover the CART series. In 2003, he moved across the pond to work full-time for the Speed Channel.

Talking about this journey, he noted that moving from the U.K. to the U.S. was a harder change for him than moving from Australia to the U.K. He reasoned, “We’re part of the Commonwealth. Aussies and Brits love to give each other grief. Brits call us a bunch of convicts and criminals, and you know we come from a penal colony.”

“But there’s a love-hate relationship there because ostensibly it’s the motherland, right? So, that was not such a stark contrast.” Moving to Atlanta, Georgia, however, was a different case. He continued to explain the biggest culture shocks that he faced in the foreign land. It was more than just cultural differences or food differences.

He said, “The terminology. Phraseology. Instead of saying, ‘Hey, I’ll post you that letter.’ You have to say, ‘I’ll mail you that letter.’ Just little nuances in the language that took a while to get used to.” From then to announcing Cup Series races, he certainly has come a long way.

Why Diffey decided to become a U.S. citizen

Diffey obtained his United States citizenship in 2011. He told the press last year that he was a proud naturalized American. “My children, our two sons, were born in Atlanta, Georgia,” he added. “I chose to become an American citizen, and I’m really proud of that. Of course, I’ll always be proud of my Aussie heritage, of where I grew up, but this is where my career has been defined.”

The logic in his mind is that he needs to repay the country that has done so much for him. And the best position to do that is as a citizen of the United States.

Diffey has been in the United States long enough to not let the Australian slang slip into the mic by mistake. But even then, some of his terminology amazes his fellow broadcasters and fans. Fortunately, it has been well-received. It won’t be long before he gets back into the booth to treat fans with more words.