Jan Verhaas

Jan Verhaas (born October 5, 1966 in Maassluis) is a Dutch snooker referee. He currently lives in Brielle.

After working as a process operator for Shell Chemicals, Jan qualified as a class 1 snooker referee in 1990. At the age of 25, he was discovered during a tournament in Rotterdam. The Billiards Association tried to further internationalise the sport by bringing on Verhaas.

His first professional match as a snooker referee was in 1993 (a match between Tony Drago and Steve Davis). Since then Jan Verhaas has gone from strength to strength, becoming one of the most respected referees in world snooker. In 2003 he became the first man from outside the UK to referee the final of the World Snooker Championship, and has since refereed the 2006 World Final between Peter Ebdon and Graeme Dott, the first final played under the new sponsor of 888.com and also the latest finish to a final. Jan was in control of all three Masters finals which Paul Hunter won, and he describes them as his most memorable matches. [http://www.worldsnooker.com/about_referees-4.htm]

During his time as a snooker referee, Jan has been involved in some controversies. He was the referee of the infamous match between Stephen Hendry and Ronnie O'Sullivan at the 2006 UK Championship in York. During the match 'The Rocket' walked out of the arena, forfeiting the match at 4-1 down. [http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/other_sports/snooker/6180591.stm] On 21st January 2007, he was the referee of the final of the Saga insurance Masters between Ronnie O'Sullivan (again) and Ding Junhui, in which he ejected at least one fan from the Wembley arena for heckling and shouting abuse at the 19-year-old Chinese star. [http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/other_sports/snooker/6285831.stm]

For several years he also refereed nine-ball pool tournaments organised by Matchroom Sport. This included several appearances at the Mosconi Cup and the initial Matchroom-organised World Pool Championship in 1999, which was won by Efren Reyes.

External links

* [http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/other_sports/snooker/4957976.stm BBC Sport interview with Jan Verhaas]