A NEW bid to revive an ­A-League Gold Coast soccer team has kicked off but a local football club with licensing rights isn’t playing ball.

New not-for-profit group Sports Gold Coast which aims to funnel big business support into local sporting endeavours, has invested in a $50,000 strategic plan mapping out a pathway to elite football on the Coast.

The plan, seen by the Bulletin, has an end goal of creating a sustainable premier Gold Coast football team to compete against the country’s other glamour A-League clubs, including local derbies with the Brisbane Roar.

media_camera Sports Gold Coast CEO Brett Richardson is driving a local bid to try and bring back A League football to the city — and start an A-League team.

The Coast’s previous A-League team, the short-lived Gold Coast United, was backed by mining magnate Clive Palmer before it folded in 2012.

Sports Gold Coast’s board includes former Gold Coast Titans Community Foundation chairman Geoff Smith, who also served nine years as chief executive for Mr Palmer’s corporate group.

A major hurdle for Sports Gold Coast is that anyone wanting to apply to get a team into the A-League must first be issued a licence for the second-tier National Premier League.

media_camera Could A-league football be brought back to the city. Picture: Gregg Porteous

The sole NPL licence on the Coast is held by Palm Beach Football Club, which two months ago knocked back a partnership approach and offer of $500,000 seed money from Sports Gold Coast.

Talks have since resumed.

Palm Beach acting president Faye Rodd said she would love to see a Gold Coast A-League team but was not optimistic, citing lack of fields and believing the city would have to import players.

“A-League on the Gold Coast? I will probably be dead by the time that happens,” she said.

Ms Rodd said the Sports Gold Coast strategic football plan was “workable” but the group wanted seats on the club board which it could not provide under its constitution.

“There is common ground,” she said.

“They want to give us this money and we are more than happy to take it. But we can’t give them a seat.

“We have gone back to them with what they are saying and we will see.”

Sports Gold Coast chief executive Brett Richardson said the local backers of the proposal who were prepared to commit to $500,000 upfront were silent partners and he still hoped the Palm Beach club would join the bid.

“This is a really big opportunity for soccer,” Mr Richardson said.

“This is not just about focusing on one club at Palm Beach but the whole region.”

If no headway is made, Mr Richardson said Sports Gold Coast could apply for its own NPL licence.

Football Queensland is open to issuing a second Gold Coast NPL licence but is not expected to make any decisions until next year.

Football Queensland chief executive Geoff Foster said a city needed 4000 football participants to qualify and the Gold Coast had 9000.