Webb, who is on sabbatical leave from his career as a sergeant with South Yorkshire Police, received a certificate from the Lord Mayor of Sheffield, Coun Alan Law in recognition of his contribution to the local community. Council officer Patrick Meleady, who manages a scheme for the authority's youth service which providing positive activities for young people, nominated the referee for the award. He said: "Most people know that Howard is a serving South Yorkshire Police officer, and throughout his career has worked in some of South Yorkshire's most challenging areas. "But what people are not aware of is that Howard contributes a substantial amount of time to improving children and young peoples' lives, and regularly participates in activities to help and support others. "Despite being an international referee, Howard regularly contributes time, effort and energy to help with our Positive Activities for Young People programme, and has been an inspiration to some of Sheffield and South Yorkshire's most vulnerable youths." Presenting the certificate, Coun Law said: "Howard is an inspirational leader, a positive role model, and a great team player. "He is truly a great ambassador for Sheffield, Rotherham and South Yorkshire, and has motivated literally thousands of local youngsters to change their lives for the better." Receiving the award at a reception held in the Lord Mayor's Parlour, Webb, who lives in Rotherham, took the opportunity to talk to a group of local children about his life and work. He said: "In every football match the referee makes around 400 decisions that affect the game. "It was following my ambitions that lead me to make the two best decisions of my life – to be a referee and a police officer. "When I took the whistle up I never dreamed that 21 years later I would go on to be the referee in both the Champions League and World Cup Finals. "It goes to show that by making sacrifices and trying hard you can achieve whatever you set your mind to."