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Ronnie O'Sullivan's favourite referee, , has paid a heart-warming tribute to a legendary female official who recently retired from traditional .

Michaela Tabb, 57,after overseeing the first five frames of the World Seniors Snooker Tour final between Alfie Burden and Aaron Canavan on Sunday. Tabb tore down barriers by becoming the first woman to referee at a ranking tournament, before going on to be the first female to officiate a final at the Crucible in 2009.

The Somerset-born Scot also took charge of the 2012 final, having been fast-tracked by the snooker authorities and made her debut on the ranking circuit back in 2002.

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She paved the way for a new generation of female referees in snooker, having cited the rise of younger officials as a reason for her being able to step back now.

Tabb will continue to referee the Snooker Legends 900, but several prominent figures in the sport have paid tribute by talking about her significant impact in recent days.

Among them is Woollaston, currently one of the top officials in the game. The Belarusian, who is married to Tour professional and recent World Championship participant Ben Woollaston, showed a great deal of respect towards Tabb and voiced her gratitude towards her “inspiration” on social media.

Woollaston wrote on X following Tabb’s retirement announcement: “For all women, which now have an opportunity to get involved in the sport they love, there had to be THE FIRST and that was Michaela Tabb. Inspiration, history maker and an amazing person! Thank you and enjoy the retirement!”

Tabb had explained her decision to retire ahead of her final appearance in Sheffield, saying: “I’m excited to hang up my gloves if I’m being honest, for traditional snooker. I think I’ve done my time.

"I’m getting to an age where it would be nice to watch other people doing that, especially after seeing another female coming up now and refereeing the final at the main World Championships.

"It’s been like 15 years that we’ve been waiting for that to sort of happen. So I’m happy now to let the young guns do it.

“I will still work with Snooker Legends and I’ll still do the 900 but for traditional snooker, my day will be finished. I feel emotional even just talking about it to be honest. Honestly, it could make me cry, and I was so lucky to have two finals and so many other matches as well.”

At the opposite end of her career, Woollaston made her own Crucible debut at the Covid-affected 2020 tournament. The 38-year-old took charge of a single-table match at the iconic venue for the first time at the 2024 World Championship, overseeing the semi-final showdown between Kyren Wilson and David Gilbert.

Last year, Tatiana refereed her first Triple Crown final, officiating the match between Judd Trump and Barry Hawkins at the UK Championship in York. The following day, the mother-of-two was back to her day job as a merchandiser for Next.

Tatiana has earned a reputation as one of the top referees, with seven-time world champion Ronnie O'Sullivan even calling her the "best ref in the world by a mile".

Her passion for the sport began at a young age while watching Russian language Eurosport with her father.