Who would have thought my overriding feeling at the conclusion of the World Cup would be sympathy for Howard Webb? Throughout the Premier League season I see him as one of those refs who like to be noticed, and he is, but not always for the right reasons. Refereeing the World Cup Final last night may have been the greatest honour to fall to Webb and his team, but it was evident from the first Dutch lunging tackle that this match would be something of a poisoned chalice. Less Howard’s Way and more Howard’s End.

I think Webb got most things right and any Dutch complaints about the manner of their defeat ought to be tempered by the almost certain knowledge that they were lucky that it took until extra time for them to be down to 10 men. Van Bommel and De Jong are no strangers to the attention of referees and that neither saw red was something of a miracle.

In the end, though, Webb did miss an obvious touch off the Spanish wall at a free kick that should have given the Netherlands a corner. It was not long after that when Fabregas sent the excellent Iniesta through. His perfect finish led to an emotional celebration; at one end there was captain and keeper Iker Casillas in tears, at the other Iniesta whipping off his shirt to reveal a hand written message remembering his friend “Dani Jarque – always with us”; Dani Jarque being the young Espanyol player who died earlier this season from a heart attack. A nice gesture from a man who by all reports is a decent, relatively humble fellow.

In the end it was far from a classic final but the best footballing side won through. Throughout the tournament it was good to see the control of the much maligned Jabulani ball exerted by most Spanish players but especially Xavi, Iniesta and Alonso. David Villa’s first touch was almost invariably good, were you watching Wayne Rooney? Sergio Ramos (should that be Surgeo?) was superb marauding down the right and Pique and Puyol made a great contrasting pair at the back; Pique showing a fine touch at all times and Puyol willing to throw everything into every challenge.

The people I felt most sorry for last night were Mr and Mrs Webb, proud parents of the referee. I heard a magical Radio 5 Live interview with Bill Webb earlier this week in which he was obviously bursting with pride that his son and assistants had, rightly, been given this game. He must have felt for his lad seeing the pressure growing on him with 14 yellow cards ultimately having to be issued and a deserved red to Johnny Heitinga. And when the Dutch players were snarling in his face after the Iniesta goal he must have then decided not to let the wife watch the recording. Seemingly, Mrs Webb cannot watch the match live through nerves and only gets to watch it if her husband thinks Howard has had a good game.

So it’s all over for another four years and maybe attention can focus now on other things, like the excellent preparations for London 2012. I went down to the Olympic Park last week with some young people from Wreake Valley Community College who had won a prize in a Business Language competition I had helped to organise. They met Tim Henman, Ade Adepitan and Jonathan Edwards at London 2012′s Canary Wharf offices and then went on a bus tour of the Park.

Just over two years to go and everything is well on track and looking good. The stadium itself looks great and the Aquatic Centre and Velodrome will both be spectacular. The site is relatively compact and sits alongside a waterway network that should look lovely for the Games, and beyond, as a legacy for the people of East London.

Also, last week we had the first visit of one of the mascots to the East Midlands. Staff and pupils at Robert Smyth School in Market Harborough put in a bid for a visit and welcomed Mandeville (pictured above right), the Paralympic mascot, to their primary school’s festival. The Young Leaders at the school and from the local Sports partnership took key roles, making a pre-festival promise and looking after primary schools which were representing many of the world’s nations.

Young Ambassador, Jade Feavyer, led a lively warm up before the youngsters went off to a wide range of Olympic and Paralympic activities. All seemed excited to see Mandeville, even some year 10’s who were taking part in an Enterprise task related to London 2012. When Mandeville first went into their classrooms they looked far too cool to get involved with the mascot, but it didn’t take long for the hugging and photos to start!

Finally, all this week, six Leicester Ladies players are taking part in the Women’s Champions Trophy up the road in Nottingham. The home of Beeston Hockey Club has been transformed with stands and a Hockey Village and looks like something you would expect to see on the Continent. England got off to a great start beating second ranked side Argentina 2-1 with Leicester’s Hannah MacLeod diving bravely to net England’s opener and our own Crista Cullen’s (pictured below right) penalty corner strike being deflected in for the second.

Yesterday, it was top ranked Netherlands and England looked both jaded and nervous. Cullen made an uncharacteristic error coming out of defence and the Dutch finished well for 1-0. England tried to hit back but went backwards far too often. The final score of 3-0 was probably a fair reflection on the game.

England still have Germany, China and New Zealand to play and will be hoping to pick up more points to finish in the top four which would be great progress for the world’s seventh ranked side. Come on girls, you can do it!