SISTERS ARE DOIN’ IT FOR THEMSELVES: The Referees

25th January 201825th January 2018 clusterofreds 4 Comments

When the Women’s snooker circuit was in disarray, there was another route to how women can participate in mainstream snooker. It’s now been such a successful transition to a point where it is normal to have female referees! From one lady raising to the top, to two introducing the 2012 World Championships to today where we have a host of female referees from Continental Europe and plenty from Asia.

Of course, this would be a cue (pun intended) for some moron to start moaning and saying unhelpful things to protect snooker from the clutches of women because it is only a men’s game but for goodness sake: this was a fantastic way for Barry Hearn to modernise the game and to get ladies into snooker. Most importantly, it’s making the game better, more accessible, more appealing and keeping up with the modern times. Just look how many there are just to list with many more to come below!

Michaela Tabb

All started with one lady in the modern age of snooker! Michaela Tabb was an avid cue sports fan back in university when she was playing for its pool team and later went on to captain the national team, winning national and international events, including the Nations Cup, European Championships, and World Championships in the same season in a team as well as UK and European single titles. After refereeing in the pool circuit, she was headhunted and encouraged to try her hand in snooker, after Jim McKenzie, then chief executive of World Snooker wanted to spice up the all-male snooker image and profile as well as noticing her live television work in the pool circuit. [1]

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After progressing through a fast course, despite animosity from fellow male referees, she became the first woman to referee a professional ranking match by overseeing a first-round match between Ken Doherty and James Wattana at the Welsh Open in 2002. Putting her poll refereeing skills to good use and gaining respect among her peers, she became the first woman to referee at the Crucible the following year. Despite temporarily losing her status due to financial cuts, she was given a new contract to stay on.

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It wasn’t without sexual discrimination when becoming a referee though. More on that in a different article, but as Michaela said herself, it was an arduous journey to even be accepted as a referee by rights.  Had condescending comments; woof-whistled during ranking matches; the nasty, aggressive attitude towards her from fellow refs; abuse on social media and the tabloids; the lot. She said, “It took about four years before people stopped thinking of me as a female referee.” [2] Then she started breaking records. In 2007 she refereed the Welsh Open, her first ranking final. In 2008 she refereed her first Masters final. In 2009 she refereed her first final in the World Championships between John Higgins and Shaun Murphy. She said ahead of that match:

“My only ambition was to be a good referee. It was only after I’d been on the circuit for around three years, when I realised I had the ability, that I felt had the potential to get this far …. I’ve proved myself now and I’ve got the experience. I’ve been chosen to do the World final because of my standard of refereeing, and not just because I’m a woman. That’s what I keep telling myself – I wouldn’t be going out there if I wasn’t considered ready for it.” [3]

And yet none of this was better than messing around with the great Dechawat Poomjaeng in the 2013 World Championships, huh? 🙂

Zhu Ying

Then comes 2012, when another female referee followed in her footsteps. Zhu “Ivy” Ying from China was umpiring at the China Open before moving to the UK. She admitted in an interview that she was first inspired after watching it on television and chose to do it full-time after it exploded in popularity when Ding Junhui won the 2005 China Open. [4] After refereeing in Q School and various PTC’s she managed to referee in her first World Championships in 2012 and was very highly rated among the professional players.

Rather poignantly, she and Michaela officiated the first matches and walked out to the song “Sisters Are Doin’ It For Themselves” by Eurythmics and Aretha Franklin. This was a pioneering moment because that moment represented the first time that two female referees had taken charge of matches simultaneously at the Crucible [5] and later Zhu Ying managed to see Stephen Hendry score his last maximum break against Stuart Bingham. Globalisation has done wonders for snooker! But then again, there’s JojoBet, so there’s always a weird one every now and again.

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Weirdly, not much is known of Zhu Ying after that – all I can find is that she got married in 2014 [7]. Not only she seemed to disappear from tour, so did Michaela under a lot of controversy. After a vague statement from World Snooker announced in 2015 that she left the snooker circuit after 14 years, it didn’t take long before the situation bubbled up like a witch’s cauldron when she sued the company for sexual discrimination and unfair dismissal over bonus pay. But Michaela went away with two Crucible finals under her belt, with another appearance in 2012 where O’Sullivan beat Ali Carter 18-11 and umpired the Masters final twice among many other ranking events. What a feat.

The Legacy

Michaela Tabb once said:

“I have seen such a massive increase throughout the whole of the world – it’s obviously great with Ivy who has come through from China and there’s a number in Europe as well. It’s amazing because I know that most of them have actually started it because they have seen what I have achieved which is brilliant. If I leave with a legacy of introducing more ladies into the game then I can only take great credit from that. I love that I have had such an impact in that respect – it means a lot to me.” [6]

While a few people expected numbers of female referees to dwindle down after Ivy and Michaela vanished, they in fact became more and more prominent in the professional snooker circuit. This is especially the case in Continental Europe where the Players Tour Championship between 2010 – 2016 gave many aspiring ladies a good crack in the professional circuit by their front door. Who do we have then?

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The most successful female referee so far is Maike Kesseler. Zee German loved the game so much that she decided to become a referee after realising she wasn’t good enough as a player. After passing her exams in 2007 and started refereeing in minor-ranking event Paul Hunter Classic in Fürth [13]. While the snooker scene in Germany was booming, Maike continued to refereeing in the World Championship Qualifiers, then the German Masters and World Grand Prix finals, she finally made her World Championship debut in Sheffield last year, watching Shaun Murphy and Yan Bingtao very closely indeed, calling it a ‘dream come true.” [10]

This isn’t just from Europe either. Peggy Li from China managed to get into snooker when studying in Australia and played and refereed league snooker every year until 2013 [11]. She also said becoming a referee is a great way to get involved in the sport that she loves. She quickly progressed up the ranks by refereeing the Amateur Championships, then the UK Championships and recently the the final of the 2017 Shanghai Masters between Ronnie O’Sullivan and Judd Trump. It’s also quite nice that other players notice this as well – gender is irrelevant when you are refereeing:

Without listing every single female referee that I can think of in great depth (because no-one likes too much repetition). Bulgarians Proletina Velichkova and Desislava Bozhilova made their debut in the 2012 Bulgarian Open and the latter recently watched over the 2017 Northern Ireland semi-finals [12]. Czech Eva Poskocilova and Pole Malgorzata Kanieska are also products of the European Tour, including one of the more famous products Tatiana Woollaston. She started refereeing in amateur Belarusian events before moving up in the world by working in Prague [12] , the 2015 Welsh Open, the 2017 UK Championship while getting more than she bargained for by marrying a professional snooker player. Well done Ben, I suppose.

So only female referees exist in the professional circuit, am I right? Oh no, my dear, that is not true! Michaela Tabb is still refereeing exhibitions and events with Snooker Legends and even at one point, the Ukraine Snooker Federation Amateur Championships. But even for ladies who want to make a start in the game, there are plenty of opportunities to do so, at least more than you think. Sarah McManus, for example has attended Q School, Pink Ribbon, Hull Open with the World Disability Billiards and Snooker and of course, Ladies Day. Ladies Day for those who don’t know, is an event during the Men’s World Championships that “aims to encourage women to participate in snooker.” [8]

Ending

So why do ladies decide to become snooker referees? Is it actually any different to why men decide to become snooker referees? What advice would the likes of Tabb, Kesseler, McManus, etc. give to become a snooker referee?  Why do dinosaurs have tiny hands? The important questions – maybe not the last one.

A lot of these individuals did it because they love snooker. Obvious, really. Here are a plethora of quotes below:

“I started out as a snooker fan and it was after that I picked up a cue myself and started playing, so then when I became a pool ref it obviously did enter my head because snooker is the much bigger, higher profile game. But as much as I saw myself thinking it would be lovely to do it, I didn’t realise at that stage it could be a possibility.” Michaela Tabb [14]

“If you want to be a referee, then put in 100%, be dedicated and pro-active. Learning the rules is always a bonus!” Sarah McManus [9]

“If you love the sport you don’t have to be a really good player, but when you’re not playing you can help out as a referee.” Peggy Li [11]

“To see big breaks is great, but as a referee you take everything you get. It is part of our job to enjoy everything that is going on on the table.”  Maike Kesseler [10]

Here is also a little insight into being a World Championship referee too:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=50&v=zdJTAY6IUAw

It would be very interesting indeed where they will go from here. The huge breakthrough would having the second woman to referee a World Championship – just the way to follow Michaela’s footsteps, with Maike the most likely contender. Maybe there will be the first woman to referee the UK Championship final – amazingly, Tabb has never watched over such a final, therefore no woman has ever completed the ‘Triple Crown” like Jan Verhaas and Paul Collier who have done already among others.

What’s brilliant is that they raised the bar and in some ways matched their talent with their male counterparts. What’s interesting is that nowadays, most criticisms of the standard of refereeing isn’t directly biased towards women but referees such as Marcel Eckardt and Terry Camilleri have been criticised for their performances – shows in this day and age that there is no bias to how you are critiqued compared that when Michaela started back in 2002. Women have a long way to go as there are many more new male referees too. You could say Michaela did such a good job that it convinced and encouraged World Snooker to give women more opportunities. Long may it continue – the future’s bright!

Are you interested in becoming a referee? Here are some links for some more information:

References

[1] Potter, S., “Tabb bringing extra spice to table.” The Times. (21st April 2005). Accessed at: https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/tabb-bringing-extra-spice-to-table-5rjtbkhj3bx

[2] Chowdhury, S., “Female ref excited by first major.” BBC Sport. (19th January 2008) Accessed to:  http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/other_sports/snooker/7198453.stm

[3] Norris, M., “World Championship snooker final makes history with first woman referee.” The Telegraph. (14th April 2009). Accessed on: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/othersports/snooker/5154655/World-Championship-snooker-final-makes-history-with-first-woman-referee.html

[4] MrPatBlock., “Interview with Zhu Ying – female snooker referee.” YouTube. (19th February 2012). Accessed on: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QkmHVVZZhEY

[5] ProSnookerBlog., “Michaela Tabb.” (No Date). Accessed on: http://www.prosnookerblog.com/referees/former-refs/michaela-tabb/

[6] Caulfield, D., “Big Interview: Michaela Tabb.” Snooker HQ. (22nd March 2012) Accessed on: https://snookerhq.com/2012/03/22/big-interview-michaela-tabb/

[7] Nunns, H., “IVY AT SHANGHAI MASTERS AHEAD OF WEDDING.” Inside Snooker. (14th September 2014). Accessed on: http://www.inside-snooker.com/snooker/2014/9/14/ivy-in-shanghai-ahead-of-wedding.

[8] World Ladies Billiards & Snooker., “Ladies Day Returns to Betfred World Championship.” (18th April 2017) Accessed on: http://www.wlbsl.com/single-post/2017/04/18/Ladies-Day-Returns-to-Betfred-World-Championship

[9] Gaynor, C., “Snooker: Don’t mess with this feisty lady referee.” Blasting News. 19th June 2017). Accessed on: http://uk.blastingnews.com/sport/2017/06/snooker-dont-mess-with-this-feisty-lady-referee-001770929.html

[10] Walsh, E., “CRUCIBLE IS ‘DREAM COME TRUE’ FOR MAIKE.” (19th April 2017). World Snooker. Accessed on: http://www.worldsnooker.com/crucible-dream-come-true-maike/

[11] World Snooker., “PEGGY LI Q&A.” (9th December 2017). Accessed on: http://www.worldsnooker.com/peggy-li-qa/

[12] World Snooker., “OTHER REFEREES.” (No Date). Accessed on: http://www.worldsnooker.com/corporate/referees/other-referees/

[13] World Snooker., “MAIKE ENJOYING LIFE ON TOUR.” (No Date). Accessed on: http://www.worldsnooker.com/maike-enjoying-life-on-tour/

[14] Cox, R., “Michaela Tabb Interview.” Snooker Island. (6th September 2010). Accessed on: https://www.snookerisland.com/blog/michaela-tabb-interview/

@WLBSofficial snooker

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