Keeping up with the Woollastons - snooker's family affair

Ben Woollaston shot into the snooker spotlight with his surprising first-round win against Mark Selby at the World Championship.

It was a match between friends and practice partners from Leicester, and one that Selby said before the draw he hoped to avoid.

While Selby coughed up what he described as a "pathetic" performance to lose 10-8, Woollaston celebrated arguably the best result of his career in what became a post-midnight finish.

A first win at the famous Crucible theatre has been a long time coming for Woollaston, who is now 37.

He has suffered with chronic fatigue in recent years and said he was so sickly he was "green" before the final session against Selby.

But if the surname rings a bell, then that might not be entirely down to Ben's snooker achievements alone.

Wife Tatiana is one of the sport's leading referees.

She is not allowed to take charge of Ben's matches to avoid any possible accusations of a conflict of interest, but has officiated on many of the sport's big occasions and first appeared at the World Championship in 2020.

Ben Woollaston turned professional at the age of 17, and, as might be expected, found it tough initially to get the wins to stay on tour.

He flitted between professional and amateur ranks, but since 2009 has been a fixture on the main tour.

It was while in Germany for the Paul Hunter Classic in 2010 that Tatiana, making her way in the game as a European Billiards and Snooker Association referee, first encountered Ben.

They married in 2011.

Tatiana later told BBC Sport: "I had never heard of him. When we met he was 70 or 80 in the world.

"I think it improved him a lot and has given him motivation. Maybe it inspired him."

Woollaston is 44th for now with 2024-25 season earnings of £139,900... and counting. He has been as high as 25th.

Ben Woollaston won a first minor ranking title in a Players Tour Championship event in Sheffield in 2011, and was one of a number of players with serious promise to emerge at about that time, others including Judd Trump, Jack Lisowski and Anthony McGill.

He qualified for the World Championship in 2013, and despite losing in round one to Ali Carter might well have expected to become a Crucible regular.

He also reached the 2015 Welsh Open final, where he was beaten by John Higgins.

Losing in qualifying for the Worlds became a frustrating and difficult habit to break, and returning to the sport's most famous stage this year could be considered overdue.

The Woollastons have two sons, and their eldest, 12-year-old Edward, joined Tatiana in the Crucible crowd to see Ben crawl over the line at the end of two gruelling sessions against Selby.

"It's amazing for Edward. I don't know how he did it - to watch five hours one night and five hours the next night," said Ben Woollaston.

"He didn't miss one shot [and] stayed in there during the interval. It's amazing that he did it."

Ben's win might have cost Edward some bonus pocket money, however, as he had drawn Selby in a World Championship sweepstake at their snooker club with a £100 prize up for grabs.

"He thought he had a good chance," Woollaston said.

Tatiana also works at the head office of clothes retailer Next, with snooker a part-time occupation, but is one of the most respected refs around.

She refereed the UK Championship final between Judd Trump and Barry Hawkins at the York Barbican in December. That was her first final of a Triple Crown event, a possible step towards a Crucible title match for the 38-year-old, who hails from Belarus.

World Snooker Tour says this is confidential and would not offer any guidance.

For some, though, it is a full-time role and involves extensive world travel.

As well as matches on the regular tour, officials might top up their earnings by running the rule over exhibition matches.

This has been a lucrative sideline since the sport's boom years in the 1980s, when the likes of Len Ganley were almost as popular as the top players.

As Mike Ganley - World Snooker Tour tournament director and Len's son - has said: "Len made good money from the exhibitions because for whatever reason he did have a profile, and an ego and a personality that went with it."

That helps. It is understood that a referee's basic pay is generally rather modest, certainly compared to the top players.

We can confidently say that Ben Woollaston's World Championship earnings this year will top any referee's income from the 17 days.

Reaching the second round means he is assured of at least £30,000. The champion collects £500,000.

Ben's plan for Friday was to sleep as much as possible so that he feels fresh to go again when he plays China's Si Jiahui in round two, in a match that begins on Saturday.

He was seen with Tatiana and Edward heading back to their hotel at about 01:00 BST, and while Ben and Edward possibly had a lie-in, there was no such comfort for Tatiana.

She was straight back to work, refereeing the second session of the round two match between Mark Allen and Chris Wakelin.

That began at 10:00 BST, and it contained what might go down as another career highlight - picking the black ball out of the pocket as Allen became the 11th man to make a 147 maximum break at the World Championship.

So far, Sheffield is treating the Woollastons well.