Is it possible for a player who is under say -- FR 600 -- to be a good referee? Yes, it's possible. Is it likely? No. Thoroughly experiencing the ball interactions for years gives you a baseline understanding, which you can then use to map all the fine details on to.
Do tourney directors have these types of skilled players/referees to draw upon? Nope.
Great point.
As we have ample evidence that the training of referees is inferior on the subject of close hits, we can safely say that many a serious player has far more insight into a subject like this than most referees. While it is not true of most calls that must be made, a serious player likely has far more experience to draw upon in judging situations like this than all but a few referees.
I might go a s low as Fargo 550 here, but I agree with your point in principle that a capable, very experienced player is, on average, more likely to get this call right. In general, a referee will do a much better job on most other types of calls as they are trained to place themselves in the right position to make a call, but the "close hit" scenario is more about knowledge than positioning.
Let's add that having been a snooker referee does not prepare one to make this kind of call, which very rarely arises in snooker. Many referees that came from the world of snooker are very capable as pool referees, but they need training on the subject of pertinence to this thread.
