The ladies of snooker

03:17:00 Ramona Dragomir 0 Comments


I remember when only boys were allowed to play football. My parents didn’t let me play with them..."It’s too rough, you’ll get hurt" they said. Plus, since I’m a lady, it wouldn’t have been proper, right? Well, since I was a rebel...and I still am one, I became a goalkeeper. And I was a pretty good one! (modesty not included: P)
These days, women also play football; it is not a strange thing anymore.

Now, we all know that snooker is a gentlemen`s sport. The elegancy, the techniques, the etiquette all of these scream "only boys allowed"...or not? Well, of course not, silly, for the ladies have entered in this sport’s zone also. :)

No doubt that the fairest of them all, is Reanne Evans, the almost 25 year-old lady who also is the world ladies champion. She is a true treasure for the international snooker and a true inspiration for all the women out there. Man, that was too feminist, right? Ok, sorry for that. I’ll try to keep up. :P So, Reanne has a beautiful daughter (her father is the current world number 10, Mark Allen) and at this age she already has won 6 World Championship titles (2005-2010), 5 UK Championship titles (2005-2009), 2 European Championship titles (2007 and 2008) and the list can go on, believe me. All of these in the ladies competitions, but who cares about that? The point is that this lady is doing one hell of a job and she rocks! She didn’t hit the maximum break yet, but I don’t think she’ll be waiting too long "to jump" from 140 to the spectacular 147! ;)

She is a true phenomenon and she succeeded what no other women could in the last 15 years – to be invited to take part in the men’s professional circuit in 2010. We’ve already seen her at the Shanghai Masters Qualifying and at the PTC 3 event and although she didn’t win I’m sure we’ll see more of her in the future. With her talent, hard work, devotion and ambition I’m sure she’ll reach the top very soon. She’s a lady, but she sure knows what she wants! :)
If you want to see her in action, here’s a video.


We are still in the snooker area, with its green tables and tight pockets : P, but let’s move away from the table and see what’s up with the referees. I’m hopelessly in love with them! They are so adorable! With their white gloves and their grandiose posture, with their rigid faces and their cold remarks (when the situation inquires) like : "Settle down please!" or " Silence!" They are sooo cute! Whaaat? Well, they are! :P
Anyway, I think you know where I’m heading up. The "lady ref" Michaela Tabb.
I’m sure that many of you know her from the telly, where she was refereeing the World Championship, with her "grip of steel" :)) She is, without doubt, one of the most fascinating characters in the snooker business, for she’s a lady...and a lady is always interesting. :)

Pool player, poker player and snooker referee – this is Michaela Tabb? Hell not! She is so much more than these. She is the first woman to referee a World Championship final; in 2009 the final battle was given between John Higgins and Shaun Murphy. The final score line 18-9, in favor of John was a first for Michaela, but definitely not the last. She does her job with such elegancy and such class, that it’s almost impossible not to admire her. Strong character, pretty face, serious, sharp mind and a true professional.
What’s Michaela doing beside that? Well, she really enjoys talking with her fans, she is mad about FarmVille and she has a family that she adores. The second family is the "Snooker Legends" gang; they are touring like crazy and making snooker more fun to watch and to learn.
This year, Michaela had a very interesting day at the Crucible and here’s the video. She’s absolutely adorable! :)

The "snooker ladies" list is bigger, no doubt about that, these are just the first two examples of women who made a career in a sport that was “ruled” by men. And I must say they look good in the snooker business, maybe not as good as the boys (I hear someone saying), but they definitely look good! ;)

I wonder if there’s a lady commentator for snooker out there...hm... :)))

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