Interview: Michaela Tabb, snooker referee

THE big event was approaching, and it felt like the walls were closing in. Michaela Tabb may look self-possessed and in control, but on this occasion she was a bundle of nerves.

It was 2009, the final of the World Snooker Championship was just days away, and she was going to referee it for the first time. For once, this immaculate professional felt more than a little ruffled. Then her nerves were settled – at, of all places, a darts match.

She wasn’t playing herself, and it wasn’t the odd pint of lager that helped her relax – Tabb’s tipple of choice is wine, and even then she indulges only rarely. What did the trick was a few simple words from a fellow-Scot – snooker player Stephen Maguire.

“It was a few nights before the 2009 final; maybe it was during the first semi-final,” recalls Tabb, who will also referee the final this year, as well as taking charge of today’s opening match. “We were at the darts in Sheffield, and Stephen Maguire was there, too – he’d just been knocked out by Neil Robertson in the quarter-final.

“He congratulated me on getting the final, and said ‘You were a great referee and you deserve to get the final’. And that was great, because the nerves were beginning to attack me with a big game coming up.

“Funnily enough, when I did that last final I wasn’t nervous during it. But in the build-up, as the days ticked down one by one and it got nearer and nearer, I could imagine what it must like to be facing execution.

“But then I had a great final. Never put a foot wrong.”

Tabb is politely admired by many snooker enthusiasts, notably in China where she has become a cult hero, and lusted after – sometimes less politely – by many others. She enjoys being the focus of attention, too. But it is the recognition from the players and other officials in her sport that she values above all else, and that led her, after an uncertain start, to realise that she had an important role to play in the sport.

“I feel valued as a referee now,” she says. “I’m completely, universally accepted. After the first two years on the circuit I felt confident in myself. The important thing was that everybody realised I wasn’t just a gimmick. Players came up to me and said they realised what a good job I was doing, which was nice.

“I was thrust into it, really. I learned a lot in the public eye, because I didn’t have a whole lot of experience at first. But after those first two years I felt more confident in terms of what I was doing, which was an important stage.”

Now 44, Tabb is a former European pool champion, and got into refereeing after she and husband Ross McInnes began to stage their own tournaments. She made the switch to snooker in 2001, when she was recruited by Jim McKenzie, the chief executive of the World Professional Billiards and Snooker Association. McKenzie, who would later occupy the equivalent post at Edinburgh Rugby, had concluded that snooker needed a change of image. The tall, slim and glamorous Tabb represented a welcome contrast with the stereotype of the snooker referee, and McKenzie decided to fast-track her to the top. It was a move which meant bypassing the traditional five-year apprenticeship, and one which, as Tabb accepts, caused some resentment in the profession.

It took her some time to win the sceptics over, but after a couple of years she was just about there, and her ability was recognised when, in 2003, she became the first woman to referee at the world championship. Then came the bombshell. Faced with a drop in revenue, the WPBSA, now minus McKenzie, chose to make cutbacks, and Tabb and another, male referee were dropped from the roster.

Having subjected her family life to a fair degree of upheaval in pursuit of her new career, Tabb was outraged. The WPBSA claimed they still wanted her to play some part in the game, but were a bit vague about what that part would be. So she went public with her disgust.

“It was a case of last in, first out, and I’m both upset and furious,” the Dunfermline woman told The Scotsman then. “I’ve been refereeing now for two years. Now I’m out the door and frankly I consider the situation scandalous. I sacrificed a lot with my family to pursue this career.

“When I came in there were a lot of doubters with me being a woman, but I did not put a foot wrong in the world championship.

“I’m told I’ll be offered other employment within World Snooker which could entail security or general desk work – or maybe making cups of tea. It’s not good enough. I’m absolutely devastated.”

She remembers just about every word she said then, and the nine years which have passed since are time enough for her to be able to smile at her outrage. “That was an infamous interview,” she says. “I really let rip in that one, didn’t I?”

Yes she did, and she also got the last laugh some months later when a change at the top of world snooker led to her reinstatement. She has been the sport’s most well-known official ever since, becoming a celebrity in her own right as snooker has expanded into previously untapped markets.

“We’re going to China next year for five ranking events, and it wasn’t so long ago that we only had one there,” she says. “So that’s an example of the way the game has spread – it’s growing particularly in the Far East, but it’s popular around the world.

“I’ve a massive following in China – they call me the Tabb Sister. They tend to call women ‘sisters’ there, so I’m the Tabb Sister. They’ll recognise the male referees too, and they know all the players as well.

“The only time the attention can get in the way is when they ask for autographs or things like that during the interval. The difficulty is trying to find a fine line between not being impolite to the fans – because they love the sport – and letting them know that you have to concentrate on your work, and that you’re still on duty even if it’s an interval for the players.

“The fans are everywhere in China, not just in and around the tournament itself. When you come out of your car and arrive back at the hotel, for example, they’ve got the place staked out.

“The thing to do is let the players get out first, because they’re often in a car just in front. Then the fans will mob them and hopefully I can slip in, go upstairs, change into my flatties and relax.

“The only place the fans are not allowed is the bar in the hotel. That’s usually residents only, or there might be one bar that’s just for us, and the fans appreciate that’s our downtime so they do tend to leave us alone then.”

Tabb acknowledges that she was promoted so quickly in part because she was young, glamorous and female, but she is also convinced she has had to fight harder for acceptance because of her gender. And she demands more of herself than her male peers do, which is why this year’s final will be the second and last over which she presides. She explains the coming changes in snooker which have made her decide that she does not want to outstay her welcome.

“I sort of knew earlier this year that I was going to referee this final, because there is only a small number of referees at the top level who would be considered for the final, and it was my turn in a way. But it was only confirmed last month.

“It’s going to be different from next year, though. It’s not going to be anyone’s turn then, because there are going to be so many more referees brought into this level.

“I won’t do another one after this. Because of the number of possible final referees there will be from next year it would be five or six years before I was considered again.

“I’m 44 now and I’m not going to be out there refereeing when I’m 50. I’m not going to walk around that table as an old lady.

“You’ve got to look good and it’s hard work. I do a lot of work in the gym and I’ve taken up Zumba recently, too.

“I love a pizza and a glass of wine – I love Indian, too, but I hardly ever eat one. Do you know how many calories there are in an Indian?

“There’s a young Chinese lady referee, Ivy. She’s like a stick. I don’t want to be standing next to her when I’m 50 and she’s half my age.

“I know some male referees went on into their 50s but they’re men: they can get away with it. It’s different for a lady.

“I always knew I was a pretty girl. But the older you get the harder it is. When I first started I was slimmer. When I started doing pool you would go on a diet for a big tournament, but when there are tournaments every week it’s a lot tougher.”

The standard of play is tougher now as well compared to when Tabb came into the sport, and she hopes and trusts that it will continue to expand. “Snooker has a really positive future all around the world,” she says. “It’s a far more attacking game these days. So many of the younger players just go for it and aren’t afraid to take on long pots. The young Chinese ones attack anything – that’s the way they want to play. There’s a limited amount of safety play compared to the older days, though I’d say that the standard there has improved too.

“It has massively improved, and Stephen Hendry was a huge part of that because of the high standards he set. It’s become a much more open game now and the players coming into it are so much younger.

“I just want it to continue growing as much as it is doing just now. A few years ago we were down to six ranking events, but since then the people in charge of running the game have changed. Now it’s much better, and there’s hardly a week during the season without a big event.”