Head coach of the Ghana national women team Mercy Tagoe share her journey in sport to inspire young girls.
In an event held in Lagos Nigeria organised to celebrate and encourage Ladies In Sports theme: Keeping The Barriers Down , Mercy Tagoe shares her experience on how she keeps her barriers down in her football journey.
Mercy is a Ghanaian football coach and former player who played as a defender for the Ghana women’s national football team. She was part of the first Black Queens team that qualified the Nation for u their first FIFA tournament at the 1999 #FIFA Women’s World Cup in the United States.
In 2019, talking about sport or wanting to work in sport can be a normal thing for everyone -whether you are a man or a woman. But being an African girl growing up back in the early ’70s, this wasn’t normal, especially in a Ghanaian household.
“I started as a tomboy being the only girl of a family of nine; wearing ties, shirts, trousers and suits with my brothers. I was a jack of all trade until I focused on football. At some point I stopped playing football because my father was transferred to another place.” – Mercy Tagoe told reporters.
When asked about her biggest challenge while paving the way for the young generation, she have this to say; “My biggest challenge was my dad. I had to lie about going somewhere else but I went to play football somewhere in Kumasi. Everyone saw me on TV and I was worried over how I would explain to my father. He congratulated me when I got home and that was when I kicked off”– Mercy Tagoe
How I get my national call up? – “The very day they were having the first national team-call-up for the Black queens, we were sent to Kumasi to play round-robin. We were 5 teams and they were using that small tournament to select players to form the National team. Fortunately or unfortunately, the day we went to Kumasi, I had to lie to my family in order for me to attend. My father even helped me pack my things and brought me to the office and left me. Quickly, I changed myself to my training kit and went to where we were camping and during the selection, there was one man who continuously bugged me throughout and he prevented me from been selected into the national team, so I just left. I then came back from another selection and this time I made the team”.
Mercy Tagoe, unfortunately, had to hang her boots at an early stage of her career due to injury but that didn’t deter her from doing the sport that she loves. She went into refereeing and didn’t only officiate Women games but men games as well. She left the refereeing scene as a FIFA License ‘A’ holder having officiated the U-20 Women’s World Cup in China in 2014. After leaving refereeing, she pursued a coaching course and became the first female Ghanaian coach to manage a league club. “While I was progressing, I realized I had to improve myself. I knew I was going to be the coach of the national team, before then I went to learn Guidance and Counselling. I have confidence in myself so that wherever I find myself I won’t be found wanting. At the U-20, I was scheduled to officiate the final but when Nigeria falconents had qualified for final having come from West Africa I had to be referred to officiate the third place play off.” – Mercy Tagoe
The 41-year was later appointed as the Assistant Coach of the Senior Women National team of Ghana, Black Queens, making it the first time in history for a woman to serve on the national team. Mercy went ahead to make more history by winning the Women WAFU tournament with the Black Queens in Cote d’Ivoire in 2018. “I beat Nigeria to lifted the WAFU last year but funny enough Nigeria came for revenge by beating me in this year edition. Quite unfortunate we didn’t make the World Cup but we go back to the board to finish our homework to come back stronger.”
In her interview, she called on the government and other corporate bodies to help improve the quality of the game to encourage the young generation. “In our part of the world, women are seen differently from men. Generally, I think men enjoy our game when we play football – so I think the FAs, government and corporates should do more to improve and promote the game and motivate the young girls striving to be great.”
She recalls her journey and appreciated her consistency and sacrifices as she encouraged young girls to stay focus and be on top of their games as she ends up her speech. “I have did everything in football as a pro. I played as a professional footballer, I was a professional referee (FIFA licensed) and now I am a professional coach. If no one tell me I have tried, I am telling myself ‘MERCY‘ you’ve tried. The way you package yourself is the way you will be price. Work hard and stay focus and always be yourself and keep pushing.” – Mercy Tagoe
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