Thursday, January 08, 2026
Fallen Giants Persipura Dream Of Big Time Return
With all these new vanity clubs on the football landscape, it means other, more traditional names have fallen by the wayside and one of these is Persipura. When I started taking an interest in the local football, they dominated the game, winning the title in 2005, 2008/09 and 2011 as well as the Indonesia Soccer Championship (2016), and the Inter Island Cup in 2011.
And yet. Post the era of dualism Persipura have struggled. Things got so bad at one stage, club icon Boaz Solossa even left! Funds dried up as better-run clubs based on the more populated and richer island of Java embraced professionalism in a way Perspiura, so long reliant on local sponsors, couldn't.
The conveyor belt of Papuan talent which started in remote villages, headed to the bright lights of Jayapura before donning the merah-putih of Indonesia dried up. Other Papuan clubs like Persiwa, Perseru, Persiram, Persidafon fell off the radar. To cap it all, the national team which had for so long looked east for flair and talent, pivoted west to embrace a predominantly Dutch-based diaspora.
Football had kept Papua and Persipura in the nation's conscience, but without the beautiful game, that intriguing island, some six hours flying time east of Jakarta, became irrelevant.
Ignomy came when the Black Pearls were relegated at the end of the 2021/22 season and now a fixture of life in the Championship. And this weekend they travel to Balikpapan to face Persiba, another big name fallen on hard times.
Unlike many other relegated big clubs, though the fans haven't disappeared. Last weekend, more than 12,000 saw them defeat Persela 1-0. And for those supporters who have stuck with the team through thick and thin, there is a refreshing red and black thread that runs through the veins dating back 20 years.
Coach Rahmad Darmawan helped kick-start Persipura's glory years back in 2005. Boas Solassa is still there as are the likes of Ruben Sanadi, Ian Kabes, Yustinus Pae and Yohannes Pahabol. Add to that Todd Ferre and Ramai Rumakiek and you can sense the strength of identity fans feel towards their heroes. Of course, the downside of so much experience is that there isn't much of a career path for the next generation of promising young players.
Football fans though can be impatient and after so long in the second tier, you can sense their desire to get back among the big boys and if that needs experience then so be it. Persipura are currently 3rd, a point off the playoff places. As they are finding out, being a big club does not guarantee success and if they are to be promoted it won't be the reputations of so many illustrious players that gets them there - it's what they can do on the pitch in the swansong of their careers.
