Scars of Hooliganism: How hooligans left Mercy Tagoe with a bloody nose

It was 2012. 13 years ago. 11 years after thousands of football fans assembled at Accra Sports Stadium for a Hearts and Asante Kotoko fixture, which, however, turned out to be a day football died.

They left home to watch football and never came back. A game they were there to enjoy turned deadly. This day left a scar. The actions that caused it – hooliganism – have outlived every warning and even killed a football fan this year.

One of the key characters: Mercy Tagoe-Quarcoo. Trailblazer. Revered.

A woman of multiple second skins that defined her as one of the most influential figures in Ghanaian women’s football, first as a trailblazing player, then as a world-class referee.

She represented Ghana at the FIFA Women’s World Cup in 1999 and 2003 before making the rare transition to refereeing.

In 2012, her legacy was nearly overshadowed by a brutal encounter with hooliganism. Her testimony embodies the emotional and physical scars many referees – guardians of the game – carry, making her voice central to this urgent national conversation.

They have often become victims of hooliganism’s darkest moments.
Just one wrong call, and their lives hang in the balance.

“Those times, the fields had no defence wall; they just came onto the field, [attacking] me. When they saw blood coming out of my nose, then they stopped,” she recalled.