The 2025 World Championship is different for leading official Tatiana Woollaston, who cannot take charge of matches involving one particular player at the Crucible
A Crucible referee is banned from overseeing one player’s matches. Top snooker official Tatiana Woollaston, who took charge of the UK Championship final earlier this season, is again on duty in Sheffield, having made her World Championship bow in 2020.
For the first time since becoming a leading referee, Tatiana, 38, has been joined at the tournament by husband Ben Woollaston, who came through qualifying. The world No.44 was drawn against fellow Leicester potter and four-time world champion Mark Selby in the first round.
The match began on Wednesday night, with Selby holding a 5-4 lead after the first session. But there was no chance of Tatiana being involved – aside from watching on with the couple’s two sons – as she not allowed to referee her husband’s matches.
“He’s on the circuit as a player, I’m on the circuit as a referee,” she said in an interview last year. “We’ve never really mix that. I’m obviously not allowed to referee his games and I wouldn’t want to, to be fair.”
There are no other restrictions on Tatiana’s Crucible duties while Ben is involved in the tournament. With the two-table set-up in force until the semi-finals, she could potentially officiate while Ben is playing.
Although it would be a surprise if she is put in that position. Tatiana is also free to take charge of matches in her partner’s half of the draw.
Just being at the Crucible is a victory of sorts for 37-year-old Ben, who has been battling a fatigue-like illness since having a Covid vaccine four years ago. The mystery condition left him fearing for his snooker future.
He said: “I don’t know if it’s chronic fatigue syndrome. That’s only what one doctor has told me but that was on video call, so how would he know? Something’s made me poorly from the vaccine but I don’t know what.
“I was in the top 32 for about six years in a row. I’d never thought about dropping off the tour but, at one time, I couldn’t see how I could stay on.”
With his symptoms easing, he is hoping to push up the rankings. Addressing her husband’s health issues, Tatiana said: “It’s been a tough, tough time. It’s taken a long time.
“At the start of this, he would always complain about the way he felt, then he went through a period where he thought people were fed up of hearing about him being ill and kept it to himself.
“But I knew he wasn’t right, even though he wasn’t mentioning it. But now he feels better in himself, he can practice longer hours.
“He can play with the kids more. It’s been slow progress but he is definitely getting there. We can see that from his results.”