Brendan Moore the former Sheffield bus driver who will referee his last World Snooker Championship final at the Crucible

For former Sheffield bus driver Moore, 51, is hanging up his white gloves after calling time on a 19-year career as a World Snooker Tour referee.

Tomorrow’s showpiece final will bring the curtain down on an amazing chapter in Moore’s life, and the Yorkshireman admits it will be an emotional moment.

Not only will he be bowing out of the sport - completing a hat-trick of World Championship finals - but it will be the first Crucible final he has taken charge of since the passing of his father Derek.

“One hundred per cent (it’s going to be emotional),” Moore told The Yorkshire Post. “I am quite an emotional person anyway.

“My first final here in 2014, that was tough walking out then because it meant so much to referee my first Crucible final.

“That very first walkout on Sunday afternoon, could be tough. That, coupled with the fact that my dad will not be there. That will add to the emotion.

“Hopefully during the match, it just goes into game-mode, and I do the job. But on Monday night, as it gets closer to 18, that will be the point when I think, ‘oh hang on, I’m finished’.

“My dad was always there (watching) at the Crucible. He loved sport. My dad was a Sheffield United fan, but also loved Sheffield Wednesday so would come to the matches with me and my mates.

“I miss him every day, I am always thinking about him. Every time I walk out at the Crucible, I always have a glance up at the area where he normally sits. It will be a very emotional final.”

This weekend’s Crucible climax will be the eighth Triple Crown final Moore has officiated in. Quite a feat for the former busman, who could only dream of such sporting heights when ferrying passengers back and forth past the iconic Sheffield theatre back in the Nineties.

“It will complete the hat-trick,” he said. “It will be my eighth Triple Crown final, three World Championships, three Masters and two UK. The Sheffield bus driver has done alright.

“I love beeing stood backstage, being announced as ‘Sheffield’s very own…’ It makes me feel great, proud, walking out in your home city. I am going to miss that.

“A lot has happened in 19 years. I am very proud of what I have done. When I first started, and I don’t mean this to be ageist, but they (referees) had been around for years. Household names and great at what they did.

“Now you have a lot more diversity. You have got younger refs, male and female.”

And Moore has been a mentor to many of the new generation of snooker referees.

He said: “It makes you feel very proud. Ultimately, they have done it, they are very good referees, but along with the other assessors, I have had a hand in their journey on Tour.

“I get just as proud when they walk out for a final. It’s been great to be involved in, I am going to miss it.

“The TV people, spectators, players, everybody, I will miss it. It’s been 19 years, longer than any other job I have ever done.

“I am still going to be involved with snooker, the Champion of Champions and the Championship League - Matchroom events - so will get to see the players and referees, occasionally.

“But like I said to the other referees, I might be leaving snooker, but I am not gone. I am still on the end of the phone if they want to chat, for help and advice.

“I would like to think we are leaving (snooker) in good hands.”

Tributes have flowed since Moore announced he would be taking up a new role as Matchroom Pool’s tournament director.

There has even been calls on Twitter for him to be given the Freedom of the City for his sporting achievements, following in the footsteps of the like of Derek Dooley, Michael Vaughan, Seb Coe and Jessica Ennis.

He has been a fine ambassador for snooker - and his hometown of Sheffield, bridging the gap in a sports-mad city often divided by the colour of allegiance to either Wednesday or United.

“One guy has Tweeted a couple of times, ‘give him the freedom of the city’. I’m thinking, ‘yeah, I would take that’,” he smiled.

“I keep hearing this a lot (this tournament) and I am starting to believe it, I finally believe I have been a good ambassador for the sport.

“It keeps being said to me, and I will continue to do that, for both snooker and pool. I love them both.”

So one last time, ‘Sheffield’s very own…’

Moore’s Magical Moments...

A career spanning 19 years, Brendan Moore has had the best seat in the house for many of snooker’s finest moments.

“For different reasons, there are many games which stand out,” he said.

“Not in any particular order, but there was the 2014 World Championship final with Ronnie (O’Sullivan) and Mark Selby, because it was my first world final.

“The 2018 final at the Crucible, with (Mark) Williams and (John) Higgins, because for me that was the best game I have ever been involved in.

“In 2010, John Higgins and Ali Carter was my first ever final in Wales, at the end of that year I refereed Higgins and Williams in my first UK final. There are so many matches that stand out for different reasons.”