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Semen Padang’s 3-1 defeat of Arema Indonesia on the weekend left it five points clear atop the 12-team Indonesian Premier League and signaled its status as a favorite for the title.

The IPL may be Indonesia’s official football championship, but tracking down information about the league remains difficult. Not all the teams have Web sites; for some reason clubs don’t see the need for them, preferring to communicate through Facebook if they bother doing so at all.

The IPL’s official Web site doesn’t even list each team’s playing squad, and with local media rarely featuring lineups it is hard to know who plays for which team. It’s hardly the ideal promotion for a league many still see as the upstart despite being recognized by the Indonesian Football Association (PSSI), the Asian Football Confederation and world governing body FIFA.

Persibo Bojonegoro is in second despite losing 2-0 at Bontang FC. If the PSSI carries out its threat to ban players from the rival, unsanctioned Indonesia Super League, from which the national team draws most of its strength, expect to see Persibo’s Samsul Arif get a call-up.

A neat, intelligent player, Samsul lacks great height or pace but has scored five goals this season. His strike partner, Nur Iskandar, also has five, and that is the sum of the club’s tally this season.

Samsul first attracted headlines a few years back when Persibo, then a second-tier side, went on a good cup run. He earned a move to Persela Lamongan but didn’t get much of a look-in and was happy to return to Persibo.

Perhaps it was the failure to grasp the opportunity he had at Persela that led to the national team overlooking his talents, but now, given the scarcity of talent in the IPL, he should get a chance to show what he is capable of.

Persebaya Surabaya has attracted headlines recently, mostly due to the performances of winger Andik Vermansyah, who made many take notice during the Southeast Asian Games.

Wingers are plentiful in Indonesia: they come, attract headlines for a while, the public “ooh” and “aah,” then get trapped by their own inconsistencies and belief in the headlines.

Persebaya’s good start has seen fans flocking to the November 10 Stadium, leaving their “other” club in the second tier of the rival league struggling to get people through the gate. Quite how many watch Persebaya is unclear, though, because the IPL does not announce attendances.

The team known as Persija recently pulled off a coup when it signed Diego Michels, a combative full back who impressed at the SEA Games. He made the switch from Pelita Jaya of the ISL because he wanted to play for the national team.

Diego joins the likes of goalkeeper Aleks Vrteski and striker Emmanuel de Porras at the controversial club, which despite boasting the name Persija has yet to play a home game in Jakarta. It remains widely loathed by the Jakmania who continue to follow the ISL version and do not recognize what they see as usurpers to the club’s name and spirit.

One of the few clubs to boast an official Web site, it optimistically boasts that the 88,000-capacity Gelora Bung Karno in Jakarta will be its home stadium for the season, but it has yet to kick a ball in anger in the capital. Its last home game was played in Solo and this weekend it hosts Bontang, though it remains unclear where that game will be played.

The IPL is shown live each weekend, but the league struggles for credibility while the PSSI is embroiled in a power struggle. Amid the bickering, people forget that football is about kicking a ball and the joy and heartbreak that comes with it. It would be nice, for once, if they put football first.