The problem in picking a best club is how do you decide on what is the correct way to run a club.
Take the big clubs which I don't want to name but they know who they are.
They will sign a mountain of players, play the best and forget the rest. This can be an unfortunate way to deal with the kids as the kids who do not "make it" can have a dent put into there confidence.
Then you have the smaller clubs who are caught in between the community based football and the "A" rated football. This is a good way to be but it can cause problems within clubs because some want to win at all costs and some want to have fun.
Then there is the small clubs who take whoever thay can and play in any league that will let them in. The problem here can be the lack of ambition and that can be almost as bad as too much ambition.
All that said I think the best way to judge and this is probably mostly aimed at younger kids say from 5/6 upto maybe 12/13 is to look at how much they enjoy the game of football. If they are smiling after every game win, lose or draw, safe environment where they can build friendships and improve confidence levels. If you see any of those things in a club then something is going right and you maybe looking at one of the best clubs in the land.
When you get into the older age groups it gets more serious, the fun part seems to be less and less important, winning is the important fact. If you see away for the kids to show there talents and the get exposure to maybe a career in football then you maybe looking at one of the best clubs in the land.
Anyway I think St Pauls Artane FC based on Dublin's Northside is a club that contains the elements that I have outlined. They would be I think one the clubs who fall into the medium sized clubs that would have ambitions to become a big club. They have not had many players who went onto the professional game but the do produce happy kids who enjoy football
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Derek.
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