Eirian Williams is a former professional snooker referee.
Background
Williams was born in Carmarthen, Wales, and joined the Dyfed-Powys Police in April 1975 and was stationed at Llanelli where he was mainly in the Road Traffic Department during which time he achieved the covetted Grade 1 Police Advanced Driving Certificate.
Career
He was formerly a police officer with the Dyfed-Powys Police in the Welsh town of Llanelli for 18 years. He is also a trained Police Motorcyclist. Following spells at Llandeilo and Ammanford Police Stations (where he had spells in the Crime Investigation Department), he retired in February 1993.
By 1991, his Refereeing Classification had twice been upgraded and he now held the Class 1 (formerly A) certificate.
In 1991, the Professional tour, run by the World Professional Billiards and Snooker Association (WPBSA) opened the Professional game to an unlimited number of players thus requiring more Referees to officiate at the subsequent extra matches. He was invited to join the Professional Referees Association and became one of a significant number of new Referees from around the globe to give their services to the Professional game.
Following his retirement from the Police Service, he undertook several jobs to subsidise his income while he climbed his way up the Professional Refereeing ladder. By 1993, he had been appointed as a Referee Examiner with the Welsh Referees Association.
He is now a Tutor with the European Billiards and Snooker Association.
He has since refereed many more Ranking finals including the Seniors Championship, Welsh Open Championship, Australian Goldfields Open, German Masters, United Kingdom Championship, Irish Masters, Wembley Masters, Malta Cup, China Masters, China Open, Thailand Open, British Open, Grand Prix, Bahrain Snooker Championship, World Open and four World Championship Finals at the Crucible Theatre, Sheffield in 2001, 2005, 2007 and 2010. In November 2014, his retirement from the professional circuit was announced.