The recent case on whether incentives work should be re-evaluated incorporating this as a new found example. The Nigeria Vs Kenya match ended at 1 – 0. This football match was held in Kenya and as many people would agree, this was the best chance for Kenya to qualify for the world cup. Following public demand for the real evaluation on how outside influence affected the outcome of the match I will start form the beginning.
The Harambee Stars of Kenya in early March of this year traveled to Nigeria for the first match and as history had it, the Kenyans were fated to another loss. We were not in any way conceivable to beat Nigeria and their Super Eagles knew this well.
Thus, the Kenyan team was not given good reception, they slept in dorms, they were denied access to places of practice and a nasty bus to take the “Pathetic team around.
The Nigerians seemed not to understand what was motivating these boys to face fate and they were trying to kill their morale. They trained and worked their morning practice in the all-weather playground and awaited their match.
Mike Sonko, the newly elected senator of Nairobi, was interviewed on Livewire of Kenya TV and he said that he had promised the Kenyan team one million Kenyan shillings ( around USD 11,751) for a win or a draw. To get a million Kenyan shillings is a dream that many wish will come true before their death.
This is a very good incentive for a team, the best of the many that there ever was. He also revealed that he had talked to the president and he had agreed to offer the team 3 million Kenyan shillings for the subsequent match that was going to be played at home.
The Kenyan team went confidently into the field and managed a draw and Mike Sonko delivered his promise on their landing in Jomo Kenyatta International airport, Kenya. He was very excited and Nigerians were really amazed. A team that they were predicting 4 – 0 or even many more managed a good draw of 1 – 1. Then the incentive worked and delivered results.
The next match was held yesterday and this was not a one million but a four million match. If incentives do work, if more incentives are added then better and better results should be attained. This is just pure logic. The outcome this time defied logic and Kenya lost 1- 0 to Nigeria. Then should we just say that the Kenyan football team is just bad and that is why they lost or that there are other factors affecting success other than incentives.
We should be inclined to take the later with caution because incentives never work. If you ask me, I will tell you that the incentives caused the loss because it stimulated individualism in a game that requires team work for success. Everybody wanted a share of the grand price, so there was competition which destroyed the effectiveness of the Harambee Stars. This is just another one of those things that is explained by; good intentions that lead to bad outcomes. More is needed in order to ensure future success for the Kenyan team other than incentives.
