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>>Never mind who saw it first or whatever, he was lucky not to have been arrested for assault and, but for the strength of his victim's rib cage/heart, maybe murder or manslaughter.
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>Ah, you're use of the word 'lucky' reminded me of something one of the British announcers said. In the 2nd half. One of the Italian players just missed a goal by hitting the crossbar. The announcer said, "Italy is lucky not to have taken the lead for the first time in the game". Does 'lucky' mean something different over there? Or (you knowing more about soccer than I do), is it unlucky in Soccer to take the lead in the second half of a game? ;)

D'you know - I'm not sure I didn't react like "say wha'!?" to that event, thinking I must have mis-heard him or that he'd just got his twongue tisted.

No, it means the same here. Footy commentators are notorious for their verbal faux pas. They've come to be known as Colemanballs

David Coleman is a sports commentator famed for his verbal slips. The magazine 'Private Eye' started a 'Colemanballs' section, which has extended to cover all commentators, and has spawned a series of books, not just of his slips, and not just of football.

Sayings such as "... has a few more irons in the fire, but he's keeping them close to his chest" (mixed metaphor)

See:

http://www.compsoc.man.ac.uk/~heth/funnies/coleman.html

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Colemanballs

for a good laugh