'WHERE'S MICHAELA?' FAN RAISES TABOO SUBJECT

There was an awkward moment during the exhibition match between Stephen Hendry and Ken Doherty, laid on for fans after early finishes on the Monday night of the second week in the matches featuring Ronnie O’Sullivan and Matthew Stevens, and Neil Robertson and Ali Carter.

Near the start someone shouted out from the crowd “Where’s Michaela?”, an obvious reference to the former leading and popular tour referee who resigned earlier this year for reasons that have still not been fully explained, but is believed to have involved an initial dispute over an unpaid bonus that was argued to be discretionary by her former employers World Snooker.

These exhibitions, this one refereed by Marcel Eckardt, are normally wise-cracking affairs, but the moment very briefly triggered an uncomfortable silence even from MC Dennis Taylor with leading World Snooker figures in the audience. Until the Scot decides to tell her side, people will be left guessing to some extent as to the precise nature of the split. It could be that she will sell her story for big money exclusively to a Scottish newspaper, or there may even be further developments in the pipeline. Equally there may be some confidentiality agreement in place and what is clear is that it is almost a taboo subject, and the circumstances surrounding Tabb's departure are a cause for awkwardness for officials.

Whichever is the case, Tabb has been a miss at this year’s World Championship, and did a huge amount promoting snooker in her time refereeing on the main tour, as well as serving as an inspiration to many of the women referees now coming through.

A RIGHT ROYAL OCCASION FOR THE MERCURE

The Mercure hotel was as ever at this year’s Betfred World Championship the place where many of the players, managers, sponsors and media stayed  - and the bar a favourite watering hole for plenty more besides, with the snooker family congregating in the evenings to talk over the day’s events and catch up with old friends.

But it wasn’t just the snooker crowd staying there this year, with FA Cup semi-finalists Reading, who only lost to Arsenal at Wembley to a terrible blunder from keeper Adam Federici, rolling up on the second Monday. The Royals were in the area to play Rotherham on the Tuesday night in a game crucial to the Championship survival hopes of the Yorkshire club.

DOTT TAKES SOUNDBITE HONOURS

Graeme Dott is a pretty regular contributor in any ‘quote of the tournament’ competition. The feisty Scot and former world champion only has to feel strongly on a subject and the soundbites just seem to spill out. The Crucible this year was no exception. When Dott was asked about his excellent record at the venue and in the longer-distance matches, he insisted he was “a Grand National horse being asked to run seven-furlong races for most of the season”, a reference to the plethora of best-of-seven contests since the New Year.

And asked about Anthony McGill, Dott said: “Anthony just loves snooker, I mean really loves it, completely and utterly, he lives and breathes it.

“Give him another 10 years and he’ll probably be like everyone else and hate it – but he’s not like that now, no battle scars and he’s like a kid in a sweetshop.”

NO SIGN OF NICK CLEGG AT CRUCIBLE SO FAR...

Nick Clegg, now of course the Deputy Prime Minister and MP for Sheffield Hallam, came to the Crucible in the build-up to the 2010 General Election and gave what was widely acknowledged to be a cringe-worthy speech full of weak snooker-based puns about reds, blues and yellows. There were even some boos, and that was when he still fairly popular, and before the whole reneging on the tuition fees pledge.

Clegg was, it is understood, invited once again this year but early responses indicated he would not be coming to the Sheffield theatre again before this General Election. Wicked rumour-mongers were left speculating that this might be for fear of a far rougher ride in the tiny arena with no hiding place from a public with a long memory, and Clegg not guaranteed to hold his seat. All Liberal Democrat spokespeople asked to comment on the real reasons felt unable to do so.

ROBERTSON DEDICATION HITS NEW HEIGHTS

Neil Robertson insisted in the press conference following his first-round 10-2 win over Jamie Jones that he was for the first time in his career “regularly leaving the club after Joe Perry and practising as hard as I ever have for the World Championship”.

Perry, who also uses Cambridge as a training base, is usually only too ready to poke some fun at his friend and rival, and dismiss some of the Australian’s wilder claims – but he admitted in the corridor that on this occasion it was all true, and the 2010 champion had been focus and dedication personified ahead of the tournament after an early exit in Beijing.

MAGUIRE IN CREDIT DESITE MCGILL LOSS

Stephen Maguire occasionally gets some stick for his ‘heart on the sleeve’ reactions to and irritation with poor shots and misfortune in the arena while playing – much of it a little hard to understand, especially when Barry Hearn has called for players to show more true emotion during matches.

We hear that those reactions have even seen him hauled up before the authorities in the past, when there are any number of other things that would seem to merit more serious action in that respect. It is easy to sympathise sometimes with players who are left unsure of exactly what they can and can’t say or do without getting fined.

On a personal level, if drawing up a snooker ‘crime’ sheet there are some obvious ones from the match-fixing downwards, and very much towards the bottom would be expressing emotion at the table (with the possible exception of audibly swearing live on TV at family viewing times), and criticism of official table, cloth and ball manufacturers.

But Maguire was as generous as it is possible to get after such a draining match and defeat towards debutant Anthony McGill. After clawing his way back from 9-5 down to level at 9-9 Maguire went the way of Mark King in final qualifying, watching McGill knock in a century in the decider.

He had the good grace to tell McGill in the arena not to freeze against Mark Selby because he could give him a good game, and rather than excuse his defeat by claiming his opponent was brilliant was honest enough to say McGill can play a lot better.

ROBBIE WILLIAMS LOSES UNWANTED POINTS RECORD

Robbie Williams was devastated to learn of one unwanted Crucible record he owned before a first-round match with Stuart Bingham – the fewest points ever scored at the venue. On his one previous visit last year, a 10-2 loss to an in-form Neil Robertson, he scored just 269 points – but more promisingly stood just 41 points behind Joe Delaney.

“That has killed me that has, hearing that,” said Williams. “But at least I should get 42 points, you’d hope so. You might see me giving it the fist out in the arena when I get there.”

It didn’t take the 28-year-old from the Wirral long to rattle off the required points though, as he managed it in the second frame against Bingham to start moving rapidly up the table.

GUESSING GAMES START OVER VIP VISITORS

The Crucible can be a magnet for celebrities, sporting and otherwise, during the Betfred World Championships and such visits are usually heralded by days of frenzied speculation over which of the great and the good might be making the pilgrimage.

Last year of course Louis Tomlinson of One Direction dropped in before being whisked away in a security operation that would have impressed a US President. Early rumours this year saw names such as former Manchester United manager Sir Alex Ferguson and Chelsea skipper John Terry bandied around as possible visitors. We will see.

RAC CLUB'S DAYS MAY BE NUMBERED

Betfred staged the first launch of their return to the World Championship fold at the RAC Club on London’s Pall Mall, often used in past years for this event – but don’t be too surprised if that is no longer the case next season in the second year of their current three-year deal.

The surroundings are plush but the atmosphere slightly stuffy, not really in keeping with the image and ethos of the bookmaking firm as an organisation.

WALKER'S 'MEATBALL' CONUNDRUM

MC Rob Walker has had trouble coming up with a nickname for Ricky Walden since the world No7 requested that ‘Marathon Man’ be dropped, given how long ago it was he completed the 26 miles in his only running of the New York race.

However during a conversation on the subject in the media centre it emerged that in China Walden is known to all as ‘The Meatball’. This is because the initials RW, when spoken in Chinese, sound the same as for the dish.

While Walker was mulling over whether or not this would work for a British audience, it was pointed out that the same nickname could also be used for him.