As revealed tonight by David Hendon on Snooker Scene Blog, Michaela Tabb will take charge of the 2009 Betfred World Championship final and in doing so become the first woman to referee snooker’s showpiece event…
You can read what she has to say on the decision here in her interview with David for the Sunday Herald.
For me this is a welcome decision and a deserved one given her progress in the game over the last few seasons. Since becoming a snooker referee nearly eight years ago she has refereed two previous ranking event finals, the 2008 Masters final and among other big matches, the semi-final at the Crucible between Ronnie O’Sullivan and Stephen Hendry last season.
Although both Jan Verhaas and Eirian Williams are great referees, between them they have had every World Championship final since the 2004 event which was presided over by Paul Collier, and it will be nice to see someone else in charge this year. Hopefully everything will go to plan for Michaela, I’m sure that it will.
Good luck Michaela!
Brilliant,this news just made my day 🙂
She really deserves this,all best to Michaela in the final
Is it true Michaela was fast tracked through the ref system when men who had done more years in the game and were higher up the list were ignored in order to get a female through? Sounds like sexism to me! People should go through the same rules regardless of gender. It makes a mockery of equality.
It is yeah, she got into it in about 2001 and was at the World Championships not too long after.