By Elliott West
“I am more experienced now, obviously, but I think ability-wise I am the same now as when I reffed in 2014. Just more experienced, and older”.
Brendan Moore
Brendan Moore has a very recognisable face. A much-loved snooker referee and marker at World Snooker, Brendan was born and raised in Sheffield and hasn’t had to travel far for his stint at this year’s World Championship. A man with an infectious smile can often be heard whispering good luck to the players before the start of a match. A referee who is always impeccably dressed, his crisp white gloves, glow under the television lights. Yet beyond this bold exterior, lies a man who gets butterflies in his stomach when he walks on before a match and it takes him a few minutes of composure before he can settle from Rob Walker’s introduction and return to referee mode.
The Man behind the Gloves
Brendan, a former Sheffield bus, qualified as a referee in 2002, refereed his first professional match, a 2004 Grand Prix qualifier between David Roe and Patrick Wallace and officiated at the Crucible for the first time in 2008. A role that he carries on till this day with Moore being a marker to Paul Collier in this year’s World Championship final. Never forgetting his roots, Paul still plays snooker in the Transport Club, an association dating back 40 years to when his father was a bus driver.
He chose being a snooker referee over a football referee because he didn’t want to get up on a Sunday morning in the wind, rain and snow. Being a lover of football and an ardent Sheffield Wednesday fan, he wishes sometimes that he had braved the elements and given it a go. Although watching football is very different from running around a pitch with a whistle in the driving rain.
A lover of snooker, Moore hasn’t made the heady heights of some referees on the table but has a highest break of a respectable 63 but admits he never got close to it again. However just being passionate about a sport and playing because you enjoy it, is an amazing feeling and is often just as exhilarating as when played to a high standard.
Brendan, who is widely respected as a snooker referee claims that he had never had an embarrassing moment in his snooker career and says his most memorable match was the 2018 World Championship final, his second world final, where Mark Williams defeated John Higgins 18-16. Brendan felt the atmosphere and game from start to finish was absolutely incredible.
Moore, who feels the simultaneous hit, is the toughest rule to apply, likes to purchase his white gloves whilst away at tournaments in China. When not officiating a snooker match, he prefers to spend his time watching football, American football, especially the Miami Dolphins or trips to the cinema, a passion that he says he could spend every day doing. At home, he loves time with his granddaughter, Evie.
If he wasn’t a snooker referee, Brendan Moore would love to sell up and move to warmer climbs, probably purchasing a bar to run. A job far removed from his current one but probably spending less time on your feet and not having to walk miles around a snooker table. Perhaps his passion rules his head though and what a passion snooker is to have!
