Lady in billiards. Michaela Tabb

2024 Author: Sierra Becker | [email protected]. Last modified: 2024-02-26 03:46

Billiards is considered a man's game, so the appearance of charming women in the professional field is always associated with increased interest from the audience. So was the invitation of Scotswoman Mikaela Tubb in 2001 to work as a referee in the official tournaments of the World Snooker Association.

Michaela is a professional player

Such interest of the world community to Mikaela Tubb was not in vain. Born in England on December 11, 1967, at the age of 23, she already entered the professional billiards arena, taking part in the eight tournament. The following year, 1992, Mikaela Tubb played in the women's billiards team of her native Scotland and played in its composition as a captain until 2003. Later, in 1996, her sister Juliet Tubb joined the national team. In addition to playing for the national team, singles competitions also brought success to Tubb. Michaela took first place in the British Championship in 1997 and the European Women's Tournament in 1998. It is believed that Mikaela Tubb was the best female referee in snooker and pool competitions and was one ofthe best in the general judging environment.

Career and personal life

Michaela herself claims that one of her boyfriends attracted her to billiards, and the pool entered her life so much that she decided to link her future career with it. At the time, she was studying science and sociology at the University of Glasgow, but did not complete her studies, preferring to focus on playing pool. No wonder that Mikaela's husband also plays billiards professionally and is known among the world pool. It was with his support that she began her career as a tournament judge, shone on television and even fought for her rights in court. The family plays an important role in the life of the pool star, she has two sons: Morgan and Preston, born in 1997 and 2007, respectively.

First steps in judging

As a referee, Michaela began appearing at her own tournaments organized with her husband to popularize billiards in the 90s. These were amateur eight and nine tournaments (a kind of pool) under the auspices of the World Billiards Association. In 1997, Mikaela began to referee professional matches at the St. Andrew the First-Called tournament, and in 1998 she appeared on television for the first time during the broadcast. Thanks to her professionalism and good knowledge of the game, she won the respect of the players, she began to be invited to judge the world's pool tournaments among professionals.

Working in snooker

Effective appearance played into the hands of Michaela: she was noticed by the then head of the World Snooker Association, Jim McKenzie. Halo dry andThe nondescript snooker referee needed a little dilution and a bit of glamor to grab the audience's attention, and Tubb was the right fit for the role. Michaela circumvented the traditional 5 year training rule by taking a crash course for snooker referees. Following the results of training in 2001, Mikaela Tubb received the status of a professional snooker referee of the 3rd class. Of course, such a quick introduction of Mikaela into the circle of the elite did not leave indifferent colleagues and the leadership of the World Snooker Association. This did not stop Mikaela, and in early 2002 she first appeared as a professional snooker referee at the Wales Open Championship in Cardiff. Mikaela's career as a snooker referee was not cloudless, her contract was suspended in the summer of 2003. Management explained this decision by a lack of funding, and later, in the early autumn of that year, Tubb received a new contract. Billiards has always been considered a club game for tight and closed communities, so one can only guess what happened in the world of snooker over the years and how hard it was for one of the first women in an environment that was previously purely male. Nevertheless, Michaela Tubb won the popularity of the players and the public, and her career gradually sought to develop. In 2008, she became the first female referee to be assigned to referee a world tournament final. In that match, Andrew Higginson narrowly lost to Neil Robertson.

Retirement

Quite scandalous Tubb ended her 14-year career. There were a lot of rumors around her departure.in vain, because she was considered a fairly authoritative judge and was popular with the audience. According to the official version, Mikaela Tubb, whose disqualification was discussed as one of the options, herself resigned due to the unfair distribution of bonuses among the judging staff, and also sued the World Snooker Association, accusing her former employer of bias and sexism. Of course, the Association could not allow the details of the case to be made public, and a confidential agreement was reached at the second of eight hearings. This does not detract from Michaela's contribution to the world of snooker, which is officially written with gratitude on the Association's website.

Michaela Tubb, a professional snooker referee, has had a pretty painful time with her retirement from snooker. At the moment, she takes care of her family and judges the matches of regional pool competitions.