World Snooker Championship: Ben Woollaston and wife Tatiana in Crucible spotlight

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.