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The eastern island of Papua, divided into half by history and conquest, fascinates many. Big business loves the natural resources bubbling under the surface, religious folks fancy the souls to be saved and anthropologists swoon over the ethnic and linguistic diversity.

Footballers playing in Indonesia are perhaps less keen on the area. The capital of Jayapura takes six or seven hours to get to from Jakarta and the highland town of Wamena is a 90-minute flight from Jayapura. For teams traveling from locations like Sriwijaya FC (Palembang) or PSMS (Medan), it takes considerably longer.

And when they get there they lose anyway. It must be very difficult for a coach to motivate his players to go on such epic journeys when they know they will return empty-handed.

Since 2006, only two non-Papuan teams in the local league have enjoyed the tiring return flight from Jayapura’s Sentani Airport with three points under their belts.

Persipura Jayapura has dominated Indonesian football for a number of years now. It won the Liga Indonesia in 2005 and secured the Indonesia Super League in 2008-09 and 2010-11.

And in those five seasons they lost just five home games. Two of those defeats came against fellow Papuans Persiwa Wamena (2006, 2007). Only Persik Kediri in 2006 managed to get three points at Mandala Stadium. The record books show Persipura lost at home to Sriwijaya 2-1 at the start of the 2009/2010 season but the game had been played in Makassar while the club’s stadium was being renovated.

Persipura’s last home defeat happened in the Asian Football Confederation Cup last year when the Iraqi club Arbil won 2-1 in the quarterfinal at Mandala on Sept. 13, ending the Black Pearls’ hope of becoming the first Indonesian club to play in an Asian competition semifinals.

However, Arbil enjoyed the luxury of flying to Jayapura from Jakarta in a chartered plane paid for by the host. Persipura had to provide the plane because AFC rules say that a home stadium should only be as far as one hour flight or 100 kilometers from an international airport.

Persiba Balikpapan hasn’t fared so badly at Mandala Stadium. It has not won there but has managed three draws in its last six visits, which is better than anyone else.

Persiwa is even tougher. Since 2006, it has lost just two home games. One of them was against Persipura. The other came against Arema Indonesia during its title-winning season 2009-10. At the post-game news conference, Arema’s coach at the time, Robert Alberts, took the opportunity to express his concerns about how games tended to pan out there.

It wasn’t just the mind games, though undoubtedly they played a big factor. Typically teams would fly east overnight, trying their best to sleep in the cramped conditions of economy class, arriving early in the morning feeling less than refreshed.

Under Alberts, Arema flew to Makassar first and stayed overnight in a hotel before continuing its journey.

The club initially balked at the additional cost but Arema won 2-0. The two-pronged approach worked for them; it’s a wonder no other teams have tried it.

During one impressive run, Persiwa Wamena was unbeaten in 56 games, a run that saw just five teams coming away with a draw.

A 56-game unbeaten run is no easy feat in any country, but there have been a couple of examples elsewhere.

Many will remember Jose Mourinho’s time at Chelsea when a whole generation fans grew up not knowing what “home loss” meant. They went four and a half years between defeats — 86 English Premier League games.

Back in the 1970s, Liverpool enjoyed the reputation for being a hard place to visit. From 1979 to 1981, arguably when it was at its peak, the club went 85 games unbeaten in all competitions.

At least teams traveling to West London or Merseyside could look forward to a short drive home after the game. It can take up to 24 hours to return home from Papua.