Tony Thorpe has a reputation around town for being an “ideas man” and was one of the driving forces behind the establishment of the popular adventure playground at Victoria Park.

Now he is turning his attention to soccer and, with the help of architect Henry Bialowis, has developed plans for a regional football learning centre he says would put Bathurst at the cutting edge of the global sport.

Mr Thorpe’s plans would see the centre built on vacant railways land on Alpha Street – near Police Paddock and Proctor Park – but he says he the disused gasworks site on lower Russell Street was another option.

The proposed centre features two indoor synthetic courts for futsal and training drills, plus high-tech audio-visual tutorial space, research development space, offices, change rooms and storage.

The use of several clear panels in the walls allows plenty of sunlight into the facility, cutting down on lighting costs.

Mr Thorpe believes Football NSW has money available to fund development projects after scrapping a planned $70 million multi-purpose facility at Riverstone, and says next week’s Hyundai A-League clash at Carrington Park provides a perfect opportunity for Bathurst to show it is serious about promoting the sport.

“With the A-League coming here we have a really good chance to put this idea to the right people,” Mr Thorpe said.

“Henry [Bialowis] costed the project at $3.65 million using engineering construction guides, and that’s using the most efficient building materials we can come up with.

“This might be a big idea that we can’t get up and running just yet, but we do need to get the right people talking about it.”

Mr Thorpe is also keen to get council on side, saying the local rugby, AFL and netball clubs had received funding for new facilities, and now it was soccer’s turn.

“Everything that has been done at Police Paddock has been done by volunteers and now it is council’s chance to step it up and really take Bathurst soccer to the next level,” he said.

“Football is the biggest sport in this city with male and female teams and players of all ages, but a lot of opportunities still haven’t been tackled.

“This football education centre is a way of making sure that Bathurst can be a big part of the sport’s future in this region and this state.”

Mr Thorpe also wants to foster closer ties between local soccer and Charles Sturt University to take advantage of some of the research projects being run by local academics.