World Snooker Championship's star's wife is Crucible referee who works full-time for Next

A star will have to pull off one of the shocks of the tournament if he is to last longer at the Crucible than his wife. begins his first Crucible campaign in 12 years on Wednesday night as he takes on fellow Leicester potter and four-time champion

He is married to referee Tatiana Woollaston, one of the top officials in the game, who made her Crucible debut at the Covid-affected 2020 tournament. At the 2024 World Championship, the Belarusian, 38, oversaw a single-table Crucible match for the first time, the semi-final between and

Earlier this season, she took charge of a Triple Crown final for the first time, versus at the in York. The following day, the mother-of-two was back at her day job at as a merchandiser for Next, whose head office is in Leicester.

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“That’s a surprise for people, that I’ve got a full-time job,” she said. “Refereeing is my hobby. It’s [Next] a great company to work for and they’re very supportive of my refereeing career.

“They’ve been flexible with giving me time off when I need to go away or I sometimes work from hotels rooms rather than come into the office. They’re really proud to see me on TV.”

Naturally, Tatiana is barred from refereeing any of Ben’s matches, not that she would want to. She said: “He’s on the circuit as a player, I’m on the circuit as a referee. We’ve never really mix that. I’m obviously not allowed to referee his games and I wouldn’t want to, to be fair.”

The Woollastons support each other in their respective careers as they juggle parenting their sons. She said: “Ben’s career is immensely important but he would never say no to me going to any snooker events because he knows how much I love it.

“If he’s out of the event, he’ll take over doing school pick-ups and homework. We work around each other while Ben’s mum plays a big role helping us with the kids.”

Tatiana has loved the game since watching it with her father on Russian-language Eurosport back in Belarus. However, she never thought a career in the game would be possible until she spotted an advert for a local tournament.

She quickly climbed the ranks in the Eastern European scene before moving to the UK. Back during the days of trailblazer Michaela Tabb, the sight of a female referee in the sport was newsworthy. Refreshingly, that isn’t the case now due to a burgeoning number of female officials.

“There are quite a few from different areas of the , including China and Eastern Europe,” said Tatiana. “It maybe was a thing back in the day, ‘Oh, there’s a female referee’.

“We’re not being seen as female referees and male referees, we’re just being seen as officials. It’s not news anymore. As long as you’re good at your job, it doesn’t matter.”