Sometimes you just want the ground to swallow you up.

That was certainly the case for snooker referee Michaela Tabb who was left red-faced at the 2010 World Championships.

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Michaela Tabb broke barriers when she became the first female to referee a snooker final[/caption]

The Scot became the first woman to referee a final of a world-ranking snooker event when she took charge of the Welsh Open in 2007.

Her efforts were rewarded with a spot at the World Championship in 2009 and the opportunity to become the first woman to referee the final.

She returned to the tournament a year later where she brought her ever-growing popularity to the biggest stage.

However, during the second round World Championship match between Graeme Dott and Stephen Maguire, she made an unfortunate error in the heat of the moment.

After Dott had potted the green, Tabb became so distracted by her dialogue with the audience that she picked the white ball up from the table and started cleaning it rather than placing the green back in its rightful spot.

Such was her shock, Tabb was heard gasping when she was made aware of the error.

Even the commentators were left stunned, with one saying: “Oh she’s picked the white up, that’s unbelievable. You rarely see that.”

Usually, if a referee needs to pick up the cue ball, it indicates that a foul has occurred such as when the cue ball goes into a pocket or leaves the table.

However, on this occasion it was referee Tabb who was at the centre of the ‘foul’. But the use of the monitor to help position the cue ball back in its rightful place ensured normal service was resumed.

The uncharacteristic gaffe was thankfully made easier to overcome, as those in attendance saw the funny side of Tabb’s misfortune.

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Tabb began her career in 2001 and it took her just six years to referee a final[/caption]

Reflecting on the incident, Tabb revealed that it was Dott who alerted her to the mistake.

“They say that women can multi-task and usually I can but at the World Championship I was concentrating on speaking to the audience about their ear pieces,” she recalled in an interview with the Dunfermline Press.

“Because I’d already started talking, I picked up the cue ball and started cleaning it and walked up to the green spot when Graeme turned around and whispered, ‘Michaela you’ve picked up the cue ball.’ That was the first of me realising.”

Luckily, her fruitful relationships with those on the snooker circuit meant that there were no repercussions to the incident.

“You can’t pretend to be serious when stuff like that happens,” she added.

“Different players would have reacted differently but the guys I had at the time were two of my best friends on the circuit, Stephen and Graeme.

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Tabb admits that the error may have been taken differently if other players had been at the table[/caption]

“I’m just so pleased it wasn’t at a crucial part of the game. The way they took it really helped as it was a ridiculously stupid thing to do but at least it didn’t become a drama situation.”

Tabb, who left her position on the circuit in 2015, began refereeing in 2001 and while her time officiating in the sport’s biggest events was a relatively short one, she holds her accomplishments close to her heart.

“It’s one of the smaller finals (Welsh Open), but to be given the opportunity to go out there and be the first female to take charge of a final was great,” Tabb said.

“I started in 2001 and they could have pushed me quicker to be in a final. But they didn’t. They made sure that the timing was right, I had the experience and that everyone believed I had done a good enough job to be given the opportunity.

“I was in such an amazing place and the final was just wonderful. I had very few nerves. I was almost relishing the job that I was doing.

“They let me know at the beginning of the 2009 season that I was getting the World Championship final,” she added. “I felt like I had about ten months of complete scrutiny.

“Even though it hadn’t been announced to the world, I knew. I felt it was ten months where I could make a mistake and ruin my chances.

“Nowadays they don’t let the finals referees know until around January or February. Of course, you can make a mistake and I was under so much pressure.”

Tabb’s breakthrough has had a wider impact on snooker than she could have imagined with more budding females than ever hoping to break into the sport.

“There are so many females out there and it’s obviously because they’ve seen what I was doing,” Tabb said.

“If I’m being honest, it’s fabulous for me, because I know that my legacy is that all these young ladies that I can see on the television are doing that job because I did it.”