I don't dissagree with much of what you have put in timescale, just dissagree with the interpretation.

The guy is obviously arguing as his Slater, before anything, and as we know from the media it is to do with pushing in.

Slater turns to the guy and puts his hands on his chest, palms facing up as you put it. Why do that? think about it, he is obviously telling the guy something and trying to have the dominance (probably telling him to calm down, or keep quite). He turns back round, and the guy then shoves him on the side of the head. He doesn't slap him or punch him, he shoves him, in retalliation to Slater putting his hands on him. Slater immediately turns round and punches him smack in the face.

To me it was retalliation from all sides with Slater quite clearly the aggressor. Self defence is to stop yourself being a victim. Had he not turned round and punched him, what do you think would have happened? looking at that video quite clear nothing would have happened, just continue arguing.

I'll ask again, what do you know about the legal definition of self defence? It's a very complex area. Their are objective and subjective tests.

I'll give you just one example from the plethora of case law on the subject that shows why your hypothesis of what "might" have happened had Slater not acted is completely flawed.

"it will be recognised that a person defending himself cannot weigh to a nicety the exact measure of his defensive action. If the jury thought that that in a moment of unexpected anguish a person attacked had only done what he honestly and instinctively thought necessary, that would be the most potent evidence that only reasonable defensive action had been taken ..."

Lord Morris in (Palmer v R 1971 AC 814)

I'm afraid you're just plain wrong on this one pal.

Gotcha - In the initial aspect are you concentrating only on Slater's right hand while ignoring the gesture he makes with his left hand - absolutely zero aggression from Slater at that point, IMO.

disagree. On the pitch, the first agressor making contact with the head would have been penalised more heavily.

for me, Slater is probably lucky to not get charged as I think the reaction is slightly OTT, but if someone hits you in the face, when your back is turned you can expect a punch back.

I would expect that is why nothing has been done. Manchester police has probably taken the view that Slater causing trouble in the city won't happen again. the other lad has probably been taken down a peg or two and may refrain from acts of agression in the future

You disagree that Slater (whether the aggressor or retaliator) would have been sent off for that had it happened in SL 2013?

Then he's a lucky, lucky boy indeed.

If someone makes contact with the head, they are the agressor. In reality it'd be 10 mins in the bin each I would have said. In the real world, that equates to a night in the cells

Once again a certain poster with an opinion so wide of the mark it's unbelievable. Slater the aggressor? Give over.

Very poor attempt at a wind up from Gotcha

If I had pushed / slapped / punched (or whatever term you wise to attach to it) someone in the side of the head, I wouldn't be surprised to get a dig back.

I meaning 'non-aggressive' before the shove/slap and Slater punching him. No the police would have done the same with any other bloke.

Gotcha, are you being serious?

I have been quite clear on that. I would have acted the same way had I been Slater, but I would also have punched Slater for putting in his hands on me also the way he did. I certainly wouldn't have shoved him back.

For me the lads actions were one of retaliation to Slater putting his hands on him first, and Slaters aggressive behaviour of the punch were down to the other guy shoving him.

I do not see any self defence in what Slater did, he was the cause of the problem, both in pushing in, in arguing with the guy, in putting his hands on the guy first, and then in punching the guy smack in the face.

In SL 2013 - I'd suggest relatively few clear-cut punches to the head (retaliatory or not) were dealt with so leniently. Even fewer if thrown at a player looking the other way. It was a rather flippant point though - hopefully after the sanitised World Cup is over we can have our game back - warts an all.

It's the first punch up I've seen involving an NRL player in years where a decent punch actually connects.

Still a long to go till he gets to Gordon Tallis levels

Except Lee Briers

I guess that would have to be classed as one of the few of the relatively few - Ablett does appear to have one of those faces.

So Slater tries to go back in a Club for his Coat. Some Clown thinks "Holy Wonderwall! This guy is Queue Jumping, I think I'm hard so I'll slap his Face." Slater feels the side Slap and takes his jaw clean off. I think this is standard for doylems starting trouble. RFL Rules and UK Law aren't the same and this was self-defense. Believe me, if Slater had ignored him, he would have done summat else.

There's a great post on the TOTALRL forum - someone commented if the Aussies were stopping in Newcastle, Slater would have got a slap for having a coat !

This.

The first aggression seems to come from the other guy. I am struggling a bit to see where the ongoing threat to Slater is that he feels the need to defend himself from, and whether it was necessary to defend himself in that way.

Which in no way amounts to any sympathy for the mystery assailant. Any kind of slap to the head in that situation counts as picking a fight where I come from. From his point of view don't start nothing, won't be nothing.

Excellent choice of venue from Mr Slater. He should try the original (and best) one though.

Just being a baggy Manc is justification enough. Don't start something you can't finish, don't let your mouth overload your ar$ehole, sow the wind reap the ...etc....etc. Trying to impress your bird can be done in so many better ways than slapping an apparently harmless stranger outside a nightclub. You never know when they might turn out to be a world class athlete who plays the toughest sport in the world and has survived being knocked around by some of the biggest meatheads on the planet (not to mention having his ear eaten by a fat ginger scouser).

All good fun.

Sums it up perfectly for me , surprised the old Bill didn't just give the pair of them a bollocking and send em on their way tbh .

Wishful thinking on our part. Maybe you should find out where they're going next time and go slap Slater. Can't believe you're calling him the aggressor. How can putting your hand on someone's shoulder be aggressive?

CCTV with no audio is not the best who know what else was happening. You also don't need to get chinned to act in self defence, you can do a preemtive strike and still be acting in self defence.
That said if it was just two ordinary blokes from Manchester both would probably have been nicked and charged with affray