professional ranking tournaments were played elsewhere, the European Masters in Fürth and the German Masters in Berlin, while lucrative Chinese events remained off the calendar. This led professional player Stephen Maguire to criticise the World Snooker Tour and World Professional Billiards and Snooker Association, claiming that "the game is dying right in front of our eyes". Maguire stated that some players ranked within the world's top 30 were seeking jobs outside the sport due to lack of tournaments. Snooker referees are an integral part of the sport, and some have become well-known personalities in their own right. Len Ganley, John Street, and John Williams together refereed 17 of the first 20 World Snooker finals held at the Crucible Theatre. Since 2000, non-British and female referees have become more prominent in the sport. Dutch referee Jan Verhaas became the first non-Briton to referee a World Championship final in 2003, while Michaela Tabb became the first woman to do so in 2009. Tabb was the only woman refereeing on the professional tour when she joined it in 2002, but tournaments now routinely feature female referees such as Desislava Bozhilova, Maike Kesseler, and Tatiana Woollaston. Gameplay Equipment A standard full-size snooker table measures , with a rectangular measuring . The playing surface is surrounded by small along each side of the table. The height of the table from the floor to the top of the cushions is . The table has six , one at each corner and one at the centre of each of the two longer side cushions. One drawback of using a full-size table is the amount of space required to accommodate it, which limits the locations where the game can easily be played. The minimum room size that allows space on all sides for comfortable cueing is . While pool tables are common to many pubs, snooker tends to be played either in private settings or in public snooker halls. The game can also be played on smaller tables, with variant table sizes include , , , and The cloth on a snooker table is usually a form of tightly woven woollen green baize, with a directional nap that runs lengthwise from the end of the table to the far end near the . The nap affects the speed and trajectory of the balls, depending on the direction of the shot and whether any is placed on the ball.