Michaela Tabb

Michaela Tabb (born 11 December 1967, in Bath, England)[1] is a Scottish snooker and pool referee, notable for establishing significant milestones for women officials in professional snooker.

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

She began refereeing professionally on the pool circuit in 1997, and has officiated at top pool tournaments such as the WPA World Nine-ball Championship and the Mosconi Cup. After qualifying in 2001 to referee on the professional snooker tour, she went on to become the sport's highest profile female referee. During her 14 years on the tour, she became the first woman to officiate at a professional ranking snooker tournament (2002), the first woman to referee a ranking tournament final (2007), and the only woman ever to have refereed the World Snooker Championship final (2009 and 2012).

Her professional snooker refereeing career came to an end when she abruptly left the tour in March 2015. She subsequently brought a court case against the sport's governing body, alleging sex discrimination, unfair dismissal, and breach of contract. An out-of-court settlement was reached in September 2015, under which Tabb was paid an undisclosed sum.

She is also a former player 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.

Playing career

Tabb started playing competitive pool in 1991, at the age of 23. Selected the following year to play on the Scottish Ladies' Pool Team,[2] she went on to captain the team to two consecutive "Grand Slams" in 1997 and 1998 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]

Refereeing career

Pool

Tabb became involved in pool refereeing in the mid-1990s when she and her husband, professional pool player Ross McInnes, began running amateur eight-ball and nine-ball pool tournaments. McInnes subsequently encouraged her to pursue refereeing at a professional level.[2]

She 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] In 2017 Tabb became the head referee on the World Pool Series.[8]

Snooker
Tabb replacing the balls in their case at 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 the sport in 2001.[9] 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 conceded that this fast-tracking generated resentment among her fellow officials and referees.[10]

On 23 January 2002, she became the first woman ever 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 Welsh Open in Newport.[1] On 19 April 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.[10]

In July 2003, dwindling sponsorship revenue forced the WPBSA to cut its number of tournament referees from ten to eight. 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. However, the WPBSA soon reversed its decision to dismiss Tabb and she signed a new contract in September 2003.[9]

Tabb uses a triangle to rack the reds

On 18 February 2007, Tabb became the first woman to officiate at a world-ranking snooker final as Neil Robertson defeated Andrew Higginson 9–8 in the Welsh Open. On 20 January 2008, she refereed her first Masters final at Wembley Arena in London, in which Mark Selby defeated Stephen Lee 10–3.[11] On 5 April 2009, she took charge of the China Open final in Beijing, where Peter Ebdon beat John Higgins 10–8.

On 3 and 4 May 2009, Tabb became the first woman to referee a World Snooker Championship final,[5][12] as John Higgins defeated Shaun Murphy 18–9 to capture his third world title. During the interval of the third session of the final, BBC2 broadcast a profile of Tabb, in which she discussed the pressures of juggling her family life with her busy refereeing and travel schedule.[13]

Tabb also refereed the 2012 World Championship final, in which Ronnie O'Sullivan defeated Ali Carter by 18 frames to 11 to win his fourth world title.[14][15]

On the evening of 24 April 2012, during the first round of the championship, Tabb and female Chinese referee Zhu Ying simultaneously officiated on the Crucible's two tables. This marked the first time at the World Championship that two matches were simultaneously refereed by women. As the referees walked out to officiate, they were accompanied by the song "Sisters Are Doin' It for Themselves".

On 19 March 2015, World Snooker announced that Tabb had left the professional refereeing circuit. The organization stated: "World Snooker would like to take the opportunity to thank Michaela for her contribution to World Snooker over the last 14 years, and wish her all the best with her future refereeing endeavours."[16]

In September 2015, appearing under her married name of McInnes, Tabb brought a court case in Bristol Employment Tribunal against World Snooker, claiming sex discrimination, unfair dismissal and breach of contract.[17] World Snooker made an undisclosed out-of-court financial settlement, stating that "Michaela McInnes (Tabb) and World Snooker Limited have come to a confidential accommodation regarding the claims brought by Mrs McInnes in the employment tribunal."[18] Since leaving the main professional circuit, Tabb has continued to referee Senior Tour events,[8] including the World Seniors Championship final on 18 August 2019.

Personal life

Although Tabb was born in the South West of England, her family moved to Scotland when she was three years old.[19]

Tabb studied chemistry, biology, and psychology at the University of Glasgow, although she dropped out before receiving her degree.[20] Before becoming a full-time professional referee, she worked as a sales representative for a number of blue chip companies.[3] She was also a sales representative for the Ann Summers lingerie retailer.[19]

Tabb resides in Dunfermline, Scotland, with her husband, pool player Ross McInnes, and their two children, Morgan and Preston.[5]

References
  1. Profile - Michaela Tabb Archived 2 April 2015 at the Wayback Machine World Snooker; Retrieved 28 April 2009
  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.
  3. Patterson, Roz (5 April 1999). "Can Women Beat Blokes at Their Own Game?". Daily Record.
  4. Official team statistics available at http://www.scottishladiespool.com Archived 23 July 2008 at the Wayback Machine, retrieved 1 May 2009; Tabb is often credited as "Michaela McInnes"
  5. Pitt, Nick (26 April 2009). "Tabb Rules the World". Sunday Times.
  6. Patterson, Roz (25 August 1998). "Scots Girl in Debut as Pool Referee". Daily Record.
  7. "Tabb to Referee Final". The Times (London). 13 April 2009.
  8. 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.
  9. Potter, Sarah (22 April 2005). "Tabb bringing extra spice to table". The Times. London.
  10. Blackhurst, Owen (17 April 2003). "Woman's Touch at Crucible". The Times. London.
  11. Hendon, David (20 January 2008). "Tabb Set to Make History at Wembley". Sunday Herald.
  12. "Tabb named Crucible final referee". BBC Sport. 14 April 2009. Archived from the original on 19 April 2012. Retrieved 21 January 2010.
  13. BBC2, World Snooker, 4 May 2009, 1400–1700
  14. "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.
  15. "Betfred.com World Championship (2012)". snooker.org. Archived from the original on 4 May 2012. Retrieved 7 May 2012.
  16. "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.
  17. 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.
  18. "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.
  19. "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.
  20. 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.
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