Referee Episodes

Michaela Tabb never planned to become a professional referee. In fact, her extraordinary career began when husband Ross McInnes told a tournament organizer that Scotland already had a referee—and Michaela suddenly needed to become one. In Part 2 of Legends of the Cue, Michaela tells the remarkable story of creating a referee CV despite never having officiated American pool, studying two pages of nine-ball rules and arriving at Matchroom’s St Andrews Cup hoping she knew enough to survive. S...

Before Michaela Tabb became one of the most recognizable referees in snooker and pool, she was a fiercely competitive player representing Scotland on the international stage. In Part 1 of our Legends of the Cue conversation with Michaela, she takes us back to the beginning—from being born in England and growing up in Dunfermline, Scotland, to childhood gymnastics, playing bassoon and cornet, an unlikely ambition to become an air traffic controller, and her brief experience at Glasgow Universi...