Michaela Tabb
photo
Tabb refereeing in Berlin for the 2013 German Masters
Born (1967-12-11) 11 December 1967
Bath, Somerset, England
Sport country Scotland
Professional2001–2015

Michaela Tabb (born 11 December 1967) is a Scottish snooker and pool referee. She established significant milestones for female officials in professional cue sports, beginning in pool, where she officiated at top tournaments such as the WPA World Nine-ball Championship and the Mosconi Cup. She qualified in 2001 to referee on the World Snooker Tour and was the sport's highest profile female referee for the next 14 years. She became the first woman to officiate at a professional ranking snooker tournament at the 2002 Welsh Open, and the first woman to referee a ranking tournament final at the 2007 Welsh Open. As of 2022, she is the only woman to have refereed the World Snooker Championship final, which she did twice, in 2009 and 2012.

Tabb left the professional snooker tour in March 2015 following a dispute with the sport's commercial arm, World Snooker Ltd, against which she brought a case alleging sex discrimination, unfair dismissal, and breach of contract. The parties reached an out-of-court settlement in September 2015, under which World Snooker Ltd paid Tabb an undisclosed financial sum. She has continued to referee at pool events and on the World Seniors Tour.

Tabb is also a former pool player. In the 1990s and early 2000s, she competed on the women's eight-ball pool circuit, where she won a number of titles as a solo competitor and as a member, and later captain, of the Scottish Ladies' Pool Team.

Personal life

Born on 11 December 1967, in Bath, England,[1] Tabb moved to Scotland with her family when she was three years old.[2] She studied chemistry, biology, and psychology at the University of Glasgow, although she dropped out before receiving her degree.[3] Before becoming a full-time professional referee, she worked as a sales representative for a number of blue-chip companies.[4] She was also a sales representative for the Ann Summers lingerie retailer.[2] Tabb resides in Dunfermline, Scotland, with her husband, pool player Ross McInnes. The couple met while playing on the men's and women's Scottish pool teams.[5] They have two sons, Morgan and Preston, both of whom play competitive pool. Morgan McInnes has played on Scotland's under-23 A team at the European Pool Championships.[6][7]

Playing career

Tabb started playing competitive blackball in 1991, at the age of 23. Selected the following year to play on the Scottish Ladies' Pool Team,[8] she went on to captain the team to two consecutive Grand Slam titles in 1997 and 1998 by winning the Nations Cup, European Championships, and World Championships in the same season.[4] She remained on the team until 2003.[4] Her sister Juliette also played on the Scottish ladies' team.[9] As an individual competitor, Tabb won the UK women's singles title in 1997. The following year, she won the European Pool Championships held in Gibraltar.[6][10]

Refereeing career

Pool

Tabb began refereeing in the mid-1990s when she and her husband, Ross McInnes, began running amateur eight-ball and nine-ball pool tournaments.[9] McInnes subsequently encouraged her to pursue refereeing professionally.[8] She made her professional refereeing debut at the St. Andrew's Cup nine-ball pool tournament in September 1997, while pregnant with her first son.[11][6] She refereed on television for the first time the following year, when the 1998 St. Andrew's Cup, sponsored by Matchroom Sport, was broadcast on Sky Sports.[12] She went on to become one of pool's top officials, refereeing at the WPA World Nine-ball Championship and the Mosconi Cup.[13] In 2017 Tabb became the head referee on the World Pool Series.[14]

Snooker

Tabb replacing the balls into their case during the 2012 German Masters final

Stating that he wanted to change the dowdy, all-male image of snooker referees, Jim McKenzie, then chief executive of the World Professional Billiards and Snooker Association, recruited Tabb to referee snooker events in 2001.[15] Exempted from the customary five-year refereeing apprenticeship, she qualified as a Class 3 snooker referee in September 2001.[1] She conceded that this fast-tracking generated resentment among her fellow officials and referees.[16]

On 23 January 2002, Tabb became the first woman to referee at a professional ranking snooker tournament when she took charge of a first-round match between Ken Doherty and James Wattana at the 2002 Welsh Open in Newport.[1] In 2003, she made her World Snooker Championship debut at the Crucible Theatre in Sheffield, refereeing a first-round match between Mark King and Drew Henry.[16] In July 2003, dwindling sponsorship revenue forced the WPBSA to cut its tournament referees from ten to eight.[15] Tabb's contract, along with that of Dutch referee Johan Oomen, was terminated on a last-in, first-out basis, threatening her future in the sport.[17] However, the WPBSA soon reversed its decision to dismiss Tabb and she signed a new contract in September 2003.[15]

Tabb using a triangle to rack the red balls

On 18 February 2007, Tabb became the first woman to officiate at a ranking event final, taking charge as Neil Robertson defeated Andrew Higginson 9–8 to win the 2007 Welsh Open.[18] On 20 January 2008, she refereed her first Triple Crown final at the 2008 Masters, which saw Mark Selby defeat Stephen Lee 10–3.[9][19] On 5 April 2009, she took charge of the China Open final in Beijing, where Peter Ebdon beat John Higgins 10–8.[20][21]

Tabb became the first woman to referee a World Snooker Championship final in 2009,[11][6][22] officiating as John Higgins defeated Shaun Murphy 18–9 to capture his third world title.[23][20] She also refereed the 2012 World Snooker Championship final, in which Ronnie O'Sullivan defeated Ali Carter 18–11 to win his fourth world title.[24][25] As of 2022, she remains the only female referee to have officiated at a world championship final.[26]

On 19 March 2015, World Snooker Ltd announced that Tabb had left the professional refereeing circuit.[27] In September 2015, appearing under her married name of Michaela McInnes, Tabb brought an Employment Tribunal against World Snooker Ltd, claiming sexual discrimination, unfair dismissal and breach of contract.[28] World Snooker Ltd made an undisclosed out-of-court financial settlement.[29] Since leaving the main professional circuit, Tabb has continued to referee World Seniors Tour events,[14] including the World Seniors Championship finals in 2019, 2020, 2022, and 2023.[30]

The professional snooker tour now features a significant number of female referees, including Desislava Bozhilova, Maike Kesseler, and Tatiana Woollaston. Tabb has commented on her groundbreaking role in opening the sport up to female referees, saying: "I know that my legacy is that all these young ladies that I can see on the television are doing that job because I did it”.[5]

See also

References

  1. 1 2 3 "Profile – Michaela Tabb". World Snooker. Archived from the original on 2 April 2015. Retrieved 28 April 2009.
  2. 1 2 "Scots snooker ref Michaela Tabb: I won't do sexy photoshoots while I'm still doing this job". Daily Record. 13 April 2012. Archived from the original on 21 February 2014. Retrieved 27 February 2014.
  3. ↑ Everton, Clive (23 April 2009). "Michaela Tabb looking forward to her big break". The Guardian. Archived from the original on 3 April 2015. Retrieved 28 April 2009.
  4. 1 2 3 Patterson, Roz (5 April 1999). "Can Women Beat Blokes at Their Own Game?". Daily Record.
  5. 1 2 ""It took me two years to feel like I belonged" — Michaela Tabb on the difficulties of being the first major female snooker referee". Sports Gazette. 18 March 2019. Retrieved 29 August 2023.
  6. 1 2 3 4 Pitt, Nick (26 April 2009). "Tabb Rules the World". Sunday Times.
  7. ↑ "Meet the Dunfermline family that always pools together". Dunfermline Press. Retrieved 30 March 2023.
  8. 1 2 Swarbrick, Susan (3 July 2004). "Having cut her teeth playing pool, she dived into the deep end and made history. Meet Michaela Tabb". Glasgow Herald.
  9. 1 2 3 "The lady in the Billiards. Michaela Tabb". tostpost.com. Archived from the original on 9 October 2020. Retrieved 9 October 2020.
  10. ↑ "Interview with Michaela". ladiessite.scottishpool.net. Archived from the original on 9 October 2020. Retrieved 9 October 2020.
  11. 1 2 "Hostility lit fire under me – Tabb". BBC Sport. Archived from the original on 14 April 2020. Retrieved 9 October 2020.
  12. ↑ Patterson, Roz (25 August 1998). "Scots Girl in Debut as Pool Referee". Daily Record.
  13. ↑ "Tabb to Referee Final". The Times (London). 13 April 2009.
  14. 1 2 Lerner, Ted (23 April 2017). "Michaela Tabb Joins The World Pool Series". World Pool Series. Archived from the original on 8 January 2018. Retrieved 7 January 2018.
  15. 1 2 3 Potter, Sarah (22 April 2005). "Tabb bringing extra spice to table". The Times. London. Archived from the original on 20 March 2020. Retrieved 20 March 2020.
  16. 1 2 Blackhurst, Owen (17 April 2003). "Woman's Touch at Crucible". The Times. London. Archived from the original on 20 March 2020. Retrieved 20 March 2020.
  17. ↑ Nunns, Hector (8 September 2015). "World Snooker and Tabb settle case". Inside Snooker. Archived from the original on 12 February 2020. Retrieved 9 October 2020.
  18. ↑ "Woman ref for Welsh Open final". The Times. Malta. Archived from the original on 4 September 2020. Retrieved 9 October 2020.
  19. ↑ Hendon, David (20 January 2008). "Tabb Set to Make History at Wembley". Sunday Herald.
  20. 1 2 "BBC SPORT | Other sport... | Snooker | Tabb named Crucible final referee". BBC. Archived from the original on 19 April 2009. Retrieved 9 October 2020.
  21. ↑ "BBC SPORT | Other sport... | Snooker | Ebdon outlasts Higgins in final". BBC. Archived from the original on 8 April 2009. Retrieved 9 October 2020.
  22. ↑ "Tabb named Crucible final referee". BBC Sport. 14 April 2009. Archived from the original on 14 December 2013. Retrieved 21 January 2010.
  23. ↑ "World Championship snooker final makes history with first woman referee". The Telegraph. Archived from the original on 25 June 2013. Retrieved 9 October 2020.
  24. ↑ "Tabb To Referee World Final". WorldSnooker.com. World Professional Billiards and Snooker Association. Archived from the original on 2 April 2015. Retrieved 2 April 2012.
  25. ↑ "Betfred.com World Championship (2012)". snooker.org. Archived from the original on 4 May 2012. Retrieved 7 May 2012.
  26. ↑ "Triple Crown Final Referees". World Snooker. Archived from the original on 17 September 2020. Retrieved 9 October 2020.
  27. ↑ "Michaela Tabb, snooker's highest-profile female referee, leaves circuit". The Guardian. Press Association. 19 March 2015. Archived from the original on 20 March 2015. Retrieved 21 March 2015.
  28. ↑ Hafez, Shamoon (4 September 2015). "Michaela Tabb court case against World Snooker begins in Bristol". BBC Sport. Archived from the original on 4 September 2015. Retrieved 4 September 2015.
  29. ↑ "Michaela Tabb reaches out-of-court settlement with World Snooker". The Guardian. Press Association. 8 September 2015. Archived from the original on 15 November 2015. Retrieved 16 November 2015.
  30. ↑ "Jimmy White wins seniors". Snooker Scene. No. September. Halloswen, UK. p. 3.
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