Michaela Tabb
World famous pool and snooker ref will take over as head referee for all WPS events.
She’s one of the most famous and most recognizable people in cue sports. And now she has joined the World Pool Series.
Michaela Tabb, the groundbreaking Scottish pool and snooker referee, has agreed to join the World Pool Series as the newly formed 8-ball tour’s head referee. Tabb will take the reins at the next event of the WPS, the Ryo Rack Classic, which will take place July 12-15, 2017 at Steinway Billiards in Astoria, Queens, New York City.
Tabb, who hails from Dunfermline, Scotland, shot to prominence in the pool world in the late 1990’s refereeing in such marquee events as Matchroom Sport’s World Pool Championship and the Mosconi Cup. She eventually became the head referee in all of Matchroom’s high profile events, and was the first woman referee to reach such heights in cue sports.
In 2001 Tabb also turned her attention to professional snooker and over the next 14 years she went on to become the sport’s highest profile female referee. She became the first woman to officiate 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).
In 2015, after a labor dispute, Tabb parted ways with World Snooker. Since then she has continued refereeing on the Snooker Legends Tour.
The personable Scotswoman actually started her cue sports career as a prominent English 8-ball player, so a return to 8-ball appears to be a natural fit for the world famous ref.
‘I can’t put into words how thrilled and excited I am to be the new head referee at the World Pool Series,” Tabb said. “Pool was my first love and it’s where my heart truly lies. I have been watching the progress of the World Pool Series and it’s a wonderful event which is going from strength to strength. I can’t wait to put my white gloves on and be a part of the amazing team that is already onboard.’
Said WPS founder Darren Appleton: “Everyone at the World Pool Series is truly excited to have Michaela Tabb as our head referee. I’ve known Michaela for many years and not only is she the best pool referee out there, she has such a great personality and everyone loves her. This is a major coup for our new tour and I’m simply over the moon about it.”
To find out more about Michaela Tabb, please visit her Facebook page. You can also follow her on Twitter, @MichaelaTabb
*The World Pool Series is proudly sponsored by Aramith, Molinari, Predator, Cheqio, RYO Rack, Iwan Simonis, Kamui, Billiards Digest, Cuescore, Ultimate Team Gear, and High Rock Productions.
