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Eirian Williams - Snooker Refereeing, The Professional Way

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Tools of the trade

• Qualifying events must take place in order to reduce the main tour players to a manageable number for the final venue. These have been stages at numerous places around the UK and are played in mini arenas. Each match has a referee and all arenas are equipped with scoring equipment which display the scores in exactly the same way as at a main venue.
  
• The referee controls all aspects of scoring by using what we call a 'Zapper'. It works on the same principal as a television remote control. With single presses and a combination of button presses, scores and other commands can be sent to a sensor which are instantly displayed to the players and audience. The introduction of the Zapper in the early 1990's has revolutionized refereeing.
  
• At television stages, the referee is allowed to concentrate completely on the match without using the Zapper because there is a second referee acting as a 'Marker'. The marker is very rarely seen but he takes over the whole scoring from a booth at the black end of the table. In addition to using the computer, the marker also records on paper the whole scoring and safety sequence in every frame of Snooker. This provides an important back-up. This stroke recording should enable anyone reading the sheet to re-enact the scoring and safety sequence in every frame. On occasions, when players are involved in a safety exchange around the black area of the table, rather than walk to the other end of the table to their chair, the players walk behind the cameras. In turn, the cameras sometimes follow them and it is at this point that you can see the marker sitting at their desk.
  
• My gloves are 100% cotton and, as you could well imagine, I get through quite a few during a season.
• Ancillary equipment available to the players are located on a special rack situated under the baulk end of the table. It stores two cue extensions, the telescopic rest extension, the spider, the Swan neck (sometimes known as the goose neck) and the extended spider. The introduction of the telescopic equipment has meant that the use of the half-butt extension, situated on hooks on the green side of the table and the full-butts on the other side are now rare. As usual, the normal rests are at each end of the table.
  
• The pocket rails at the black end of the table have been lengthened which means that they can comfortably hold eight balls before they possibly need emptying.
  
• Another invaluable refereeing aid is the ball marker. In early days, in order to mark the position of the ball, referees used two coins placed against a ball needing cleaning before removing the ball. There are several types of ball marker and some referees actually carry two, which come in handy if several balls need to be moved when re-spotting a colour for example. Another use for the marker is to check whether there is enough room to spot a colour after being potted. All markers have an indicator for this use or are the exact width of half a ball.
  
• The triangle that Professional Referees use to position the reds accurately is very obviously rectangular. The reds are gathered together and the triangle is placed over them. Just ahead of the apex red there is a small pointer. When the base of the triangle is held touching the top cushion, the pointer indicates the exact position of the black spot. When it is rolled forward, and the pointer reaches the pink spot, you will notice that the Referee places his fingers behind the reds and pushes them forward. When the triangle is lifted from the reds they are then in the precise place so that when the pink is spotted, it is as close to the apex red as possible.

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