- Michaela Tabb
-
Michaela Tabb 
Tabb refereeing a 2008 World Series match in MoscowBorn 11 December 1967
Bath, EnglandSport country 
ScotlandProfessional 2001 Michaela Tabb (born 11 December 1967, in Bath, England)[1] is a snooker and pool referee who has established a number of significant milestones for female officials in professional cue sports. Most notably, in May 2009 she became the first woman to officiate at a World Snooker Championship final, the sport's highest refereeing honour.
Tabb formerly played on the women's eight-ball pool circuit, winning a number of titles as a solo competitor and as a member, and later captain, of the Scottish Ladies' Pool Team.
Contents
Career
Pool player
Introduced to the game of pool by a boyfriend, Tabb started playing competitively in 1991, at the age of 23. Selected for the Scottish Ladies' Pool Team in 1992,[2] she captained the team to two consecutive "Grand Slams" in 1997 and 1998, accomplished by winning the Nations Cup, European Championships, and World Championships in the same season. She remained on the team until 2003.[3] Her sister, Juliette Tabb, also played on the Scottish ladies' team between 1996 and 2008.[4]
As an individual competitor, Tabb won the UK women's singles title in 1997. The following year, she won the European Women's Pool Championship in Gibraltar.[5]
Pool referee
Tabb became involved in amateur tournament refereeing in the mid-1990s, when she and her husband, professional pool player Ross McInnes, began running eight-ball and nine-ball pool tournaments. McInnes subsequently encouraged Tabb to pursue refereeing at a professional level.[2]
Tabb made her professional refereeing debut at the St. Andrew's Cup nine-ball pool tournament in September 1997.[5] She refereed on television for the first time the following year, when the 1998 St. Andrew's Cup, sponsored by Barry Hearn's Matchroom Sport, was broadcast on Sky.[6] She went on to become one of pool's top officials; she has refereed at the WPA World Nine-ball Championship, the Mosconi Cup, and the sport's other premiere events.[7]
Snooker referee
Openly acknowledging that he wanted to transform the dowdy, all-male image of snooker referees,[8] Jim McKenzie, then chief executive of the World Professional Billiards and Snooker Association, recruited Tabb to the sport in 2001. Exempted from the customary five-year refereeing apprenticeship and placed on a fast-track toward officiating at professional ranking tournaments, she qualified as a Class 3 snooker referee in September 2001.[1] She later conceded that her rapid ascendancy in the sport generated resentment among her fellow officials and referees.[9]
Tabb made her ranking tournament debut on 23 January 2002 at the Welsh Open, where she refereed a first-round match between Ken Doherty and James Wattana.[1] On 19 April 2003, she made her World Snooker Championship debut at the Crucible Theatre in Sheffield, when she took charge of a first-round match between Mark King and Drew Henry.[9]
In July 2003, Tabb's future in snooker was threatened when dwindling sponsorship revenue forced the WPBSA to cut its number of tournament referees from ten to eight. Her contract, along with that of Dutch referee Johan Oomen, was terminated on a "last in, first out" basis. However, the WPBSA soon reversed its decision to dismiss Tabb; she signed a new contract in September 2003.[8]
On 18 February 2007, Tabb became the first woman to officiate at a world-ranking snooker final when she presided over Neil Robertson's 9–8 defeat of Andrew Higginson at the Welsh Open in Newport. On 20 January 2008, she refereed the final of the 2008 Masters at Wembley Arena in London, as Mark Selby defeated Stephen Lee by 10 frames to 3.[10] On 5 April 2009, Tabb took charge of the 2009 China Open final in Beijing, where Peter Ebdon beat John Higgins by 10 frames to 8.
On 3 and 4 May 2009, Tabb became the first female referee to take charge of a World Snooker Championship final,[5][11] officiating as John Higgins defeated Shaun Murphy by 18 frames to 9 to capture his third world title. During the interval of the final's third session, the BBC broadcast a profile of Tabb, in which she discussed the pressures of juggling her family life with her busy refereeing and travel schedule.[12]
Personal life
Tabb attended the University of Glasgow where she studied chemistry, biology, and sociology, but left before receiving her degree.[13] Before becoming a full-time professional referee, she worked as an advertising salesperson and as a job recruitment agent.[3]
She resides in Dunfermline, Scotland, with her husband Ross McInnes and their two sons, Morgan (born 1997) and Preston (born 2007).[5]
References
- ^ a b c Official WPBSA profile Retrieved 28 April 2009
- ^ a b 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.
- ^ a b Patterson, Roz (5 April 1999). "Can Women Beat Blokes at Their Own Game?". Daily Record.
- ^ Official team statistics available at http://www.scottishladiespool.com, retrieved 1 May 2009. Tabb is often credited as "Michaela McInnes."
- ^ a b c d Pitt, Nick (26 April 2009). "Tabb Rules the World". Sunday Times.
- ^ Patterson, Roz (25 August 1998). "Scots Girl in Debut as Pool Referee". Daily Record.
- ^ "Tabb to Referee Final". The Times (London). 13 April 2009.
- ^ a b Potter, Sarah (22 April 2005). "Tabb Bringing Extra Spice to Table". Times (London).
- ^ a b Blackhurst, Owen (5 April 1999). "Woman's Touch at Crucible". Times (London).
- ^ Hendon, David (20 January 2008). "Tabb Set to Make History at Wembley". Sunday Herald.
- ^ "Tabb named Crucible final referee". BBC Sport. 14 April 2009. http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/other_sports/snooker/7998235.stm. Retrieved 21 January 2010.
- ^ BBC2, World Snooker, 4 May 2009, 1400–1700
- ^ Everton, Clive (23 April 2009). "Michaela Tabb looking forward to her big break". Guardian. http://www.guardian.co.uk/sport/2009/apr/23/michaela-tabb-referee-snooker-crucible. Retrieved 28 April 2009.
External links
Categories:- 1967 births
- Living people
- People from Bath, Somerset
- People from Dunfermline
- Pool referees and officials
- Snooker referees and officials
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