Mercy Tagoe quits refereeing due to crowd violence

Retired female referee Mercy Quarcoo-Tagoe says hooliganism at match venues accounted for her decision to quit the game.

The 34-year-old confirmed her retirement from the game on Wednesday after a 17-year career span.

The country’s top referee was evasive on what prompted her to call time in the game but she has now admitted crowd trouble at match venues with specifics emphasis on the ordeal suffered by Patrick Kyeremanteng compelled her to bow out.

“What happened to referee Patrick Kyeremanteng at Cape Coast was one of the key reasons,” Tagoe told Radio XYZ

“He is somebody’s friend, husband, father, son, daughter and uncle. Why should somebody or a group of people take the law into their own hands and treat Kyeremanteng the way they did.

“They (fans) make the whole profession or refereeing career worthless and I am not willing to be allowed to be maltreated,”

She holds a License C Certificate and hopes to acquire the license B certificate in June.

Quarcoo raised the bar for Africa referees on the continent when she officiated at the 2010 Fifa Women’s World Cup staged in Germany.

She was an ex-Ghana defender and played at the 1999 and 2003 World Cup finals.