So, as first predicted in insidethegames, the nerdish Education Secretary Michael Gove, seasonally portraying himself somewhere between Scrooge and Santa, has stopped short of a complete U-turn but at least restored a portion of the ringfenced £162 million ($260 million), albeit temporarily, for the schools sports partnership coaching system.

Clearly Prime Minister David Cameron had a timely word in Gove's shell-like as the announcement coincided with his own photo opportunity with schoolkids at the Olympic Park.

It also came as the Sport and Recreation Alliance - the CCPR that was - announced that nine major sports bodies had committed to re-invest at least 30 per cent of TV revenues, around £250 million a year, into grassroots sport.

The thought occurs that if just half went into school sports the coaching programme could be fully funded and restored in its entirety without the Government (or rather we taxpayers) forking out and everyone would have a happier Christmas and certainly a more prosperous New Year.

Interestingly, the compromise resolution of the school sports issue is a moral victory for athlete power following the skilfully-orchestrated petitioning by past and present Olympians, among them Tom Daley, Denise Lewis and James DeGale.

We wonder if a similar result may be achieved by another galaxy of  big-name Olympic elite, spearheaded by Dame Kelly Holmes, Daley Thompson, Alan Pascoe and Sally Gunnell, who are pledged to stop Tottenham Hotspur from acquiring the Olympic Stadium after the 2012 Games, a move which would leave  athletics without its promised legacy. In an open letter they have made a passionate plea for the retention of an athletics facility in east London, saying to lose the track would be unacceptable.

Pascoe, the former Commonwealth Games hurdling gold medallist who  heads promotional organisation Fast Track calls the football-only scenario  'an absolute disgrace' and says the design of the £537 million ($826 million), 80,000-seater venue is "ill-conceived" but I fear this may be a losing battle. In the end it will come down to cash and clout, and Spurs, backed entertainment giant AEG, have more of both than bid rivals West Ham who would keep the track.

The best deal athletics is likely to get out of it is a substantial tarting up of Crystal Palace to make it a potential World Championships venue. Of course, dispensing with the athletics legacy at the Olympic Park would mean London reneging on the commitment made to both the IOC and the IAAF when the 2012 bid was won.

But hey, since when did breaking pledges matter? Ask the Lib Dems.

The future of the stadium is one major controversy with which sport will be confronted next year.

Looking into that New Year, I can see another seriously escalating. This also involves Spurs, or rather their star winger Gareth Bale (pictured) and the composition of the GB football team in 2012, which could well culminate in a fascinating legal battle.

The scintillating young Welsh international, regarded as the most exciting young talent British football, has indicated his strong desire to play in a GB team which is likely to be managed by his Spurs boss Harry Redknapp.

But he has been warned he faces suspension by the Welsh FA, who, with the football associations of Scotland and Northern Ireland, are peevishly refusing to allow their players – both male and female - to take part in the Games.

However, the British Olympic Association chairman Colin Moynihan is determined that selection for a Great Britain XI must not be restricted to English players, and if necessary will back Bale - or any other home countries player – to take the case to the Court of Arbitration for Sport in Switzerland. In this situation 22-year-old Bale could become as significant a figure in football law as the "soccer suffragettes" George Eastham and Jean Marc Bosman, who in 1963 and 1995 respectively, won landmark rulings over players' rights in the transfer system.

The three refusnik associations say they fear if their players participate in a GB Olympic team FIFA could the insist on a joint British World Cup team, despite the written assurance of President Sepp Blatter that this will not happen.

Conversely Moynihan argues that players from all four home nations  have to be considered for selection otherwise the BOA would be in breach of the Olympic Charter. "We would open ourselves up to legal challenges if the pool of players available for selection came from England only," he says.

Sports law experts I have spoke with believe the Court of Arbitration would rule in favour of the players, who could claim restraint of trade. And should Bale persist in his bid it is hard to see what action the Welsh FA could take. They can't stop their 27-times capped star from playing for Spurs, who come under the jurisdiction of the English FA; and would they dare risk the wrath of Welsh fans - and new manager Gary Speed  - by banning from the national team the best player Wales has had since Ryan Giggs and thereby lose what little chance they have of qualifying for the World Cup? Do leave orf boyos!

Alan Hubbard is an award-winning sports columnist for The Independent on Sunday, and a former sports editor of The Observer. He has covered a total of 16 Summer and Winter Olympics, 10 Commonwealth Games, several football World Cups and world title fights from Atlanta to Zaire