By Elliott West
“It took me two years to feel like I belonged”
Michaela Tabb
Introduction
Michaela Tabb is widely viewed as a pioneer in snooker. The Scot became the first female professional referee to oversee a major snooker final when she was invited to referee the Welsh Open final in 2007, her first snooker match being the first-round match between Ken Doherty and James Wattana in the 2002 Regal Welsh Open which Doherty won 5-2. Tabb was actually born in Bath, Somerset in 1967 and was first known for playing competitive blackball when she broke onto the pool circuit as a player in 1991 at the age of 23.
Pool Career
Michaela Tabb had a very successful career as a female pool player, being selected to play on the Scottish Ladies’ Pool Team in 1992 and went on to captain the team to two consecutive titles. Both Grand Slams, the team won in 1997 and 1998, the Nations Cup, European Championships and World Championships in the same season and remained on the national team until 2003. Victories that she shared with her sister Juliette who played alongside her. Tabb went on to win the UK women’s singles title in 1997 and the European Pool Championships, held in Gibraltar in 1998. A success that evolved out of her boyfriend in her student days who got her involved in the cue sport.
Tabb went on to become a pool referee in the 1990s when she and her husband Ross McInnes began running amateur eight-ball and nine-ball tournaments. Encouraged by her husband, Michaela decided to take up refereeing at a professional level. Making her debut at the Andrew’s Cup nine-ball tournament in 1997, at the time pregnant with her first son. She then hit the television screens when the event was broadcast on Sky Sports the following year. A broadcast that catapulted her into the limelight and going on to be a top and respected referee and led her to oversee the WPA World Nine-Ball Championship, the Mosconi Cup and in 2017, Michaela became the head referee on the World Pool Series.
Snooker Career
Subsequent to her first appearance at the final of the 2002 Welsh Open, Tabb would also referee the final of the 2007 Welsh Open five years later. She also became the first woman to preside over the World Championship finals of 2009 and 2012. Additionally, she would referee the 2008 Masters final and the 2009 and 2010 China Open finals. Michaela was always someone who knew the rule book inside out but was always open to a joke and a laugh with the players on and off the table. A professional snooker referee from 2001-2015, set the equality standard in her professional, showing that snooker was a sport where women should work alongside men and opened the door for many more female referees to join her.
Sadly Michaela Tabb’s professional time as a referee came to an end in 2015. Unknown to many, there was a few in the sport that took an objection to her being there in the first place. Tabb brought a case against the governing body of snooker through an employment tribunal, citing sexual discrimination, unfair dismissal and a breach of contract. A case that was settled out of court and Michaela was paid an undisclosed settlement. The initial dispute was understood to have been in part over an unpaid bonus which left Tabb angry and World Snooker claiming it was discretionary. She went on to become a familiar face on the Snooker Legends circuit and now can be regularly seen at the World Seniors’ events.
