Snooker referee Malgorzata Kanieska combines her work officiating some of the biggest matches in the world with her career in aerospace. As if one stressful profession wasn’t enough for the baize umpire.
Kanieska made her debut at the 2025 World Snooker Championship when she took control of a Crucible fixture for the first time. However, she’s not currently assigned to be on call when play gets underway for the 2026 tournament this weekend. The Warsaw-born official started working in the snooker sphere as far back as 2010. However, she still works a regular job in Poland, where she’s responsible for structuring operations to ensure things run as as smoothly as possible.
Speaking to Framed: The Snooker Podcast last year, Kanieska said: “When I did my first professional event I was studying. Now I’m just working full-time and I take days off to go to tournaments, that’s the biggest change.”
One would have to be a genuine enthusiast of the sport to take on the stress of refereeing on their day off. However, such is Kanieska’s passion for snooker that she’s willing to make that sacrifice.
She continued: “I use all my days off for the tournament. As much as I like snooker, it’s not a holiday.”
Kanieska won’t be part of the officiating team that steers the next couple of weeks’ action in Sheffield. However, that doesn’t mean her day-to-day will be any freer of obstacles as a result.
“I work for Polish airlines, I optimise [systems] for the upcoming days,” she continued. “There is a manager on duty but when you think about all the aircrafts coming in, [if] something happens you need to know how to make the network look the best, how to avoid delays, how to avoid over-bookings and how to find the best options for the flights to perform.”
And just like she wields plenty of power as a snooker referee, Kanieska has a similar position of authority at her airport job. And thankfully she can delegate some of the more awkward responsibilities to her colleagues in that side of her work.
“I can cancel flights,” she added. “When there is industrial action, or airports can be closed, or aircrafts can be damaged, I have the power to cancel flights – luckily I do not contact passengers so that makes it easier.”
Kanieska’s peer, Rob Spencer, has been assigned to referee the 2026 World Snooker Championship final on May 4. Meanwhile, she is due to watch this year’s competition from the sidelines as she plots a comeback on the sport’s grandest stage.