Snooker referee Tatiana Woollaston, widely regarded as one of the best in the sport, was banned from officiating one player's matches during the recent UK Championship. That player was her husband Ben, who had secured his place in the 32-strong field at York Barbican after successfully getting through the qualifying rounds last month.
Ben faced three-time UK champion John Higgins in the opening round, where he was defeated 6-2. Despite falling 5-0 behind, he showed resilience by claiming the sixth and seventh frames before Higgins eventually secured the win. Tatiana, despite being one of the officials at the season's opening Triple Crown event, did not oversee the encounter because she is not allowed to referee her husband's matches.
Speaking ahead of last year's UK Championship, Tatiana explained that they try to keep their snooker careers completely separated. She said: 'He's on the circuit as a player, I'm on the circuit as a referee. We've never really mixed that. I'm obviously not allowed to referee his games and I wouldn't want to, to be fair.'
Beyond this restriction, there were no other limitations on Tatiana's tournament responsibilities while Ben remained in the competition. Given the two-table arrangement remains until the semi-final stage, she could have theoretically refereed while Ben competed, though she was unlikely to find herself in such a position. Tatiana was also allowed to oversee matches in her husband's section of the draw.
Tatiana Woollaston is Ronnie O'Sullivan's favourite referee, with the seven-time world champion describing her as the 'best ref in the world by a mile'. Last year, she had the privilege of officiating the UK final between Judd Trump and Barry Hawkins. This was due to her growing reputation as one of the most respected officials in the sport, having first refereed World Championship matches at the Covid-affected 2020 tournament.
At the 2024 World Championship, the 39-year-old oversaw a single-table Crucible match for the first time - the semi-final between Kyren Wilson and David Gilbert. Such career highlights have been pinch-yourself moments for the Leicester-based official, originally from Belarus, who developed a passion for the sport as a child while watching Russian language Eurosport with her father.
