Hurst is best known for scoring the hat-trick that secured England their lone World Cup title at Wembley in 1966.
But almost half a century later he has committed himself to working at grassroots level to provide a platform for the next generation of players and coaches in this country.
England's bid to bridge the divide on its major rivals has been a key focus of the Football Association in recent years with the opening of the state-of-the-art St George's Park training base in Burton ensuring a level footing at the elite level.
But Hurst, who has been working as McDonald's Director of Football in association with the FA for a decade, believes it is on the local parks where the biggest ground can be made up.
The sum of his work was spelled out in a report launched in front of Minister's of Parliament at the House of Commons on Wednesday, which revealed the grassroots game in the United Kingdom had "undergone a major transformation" in the past decade.
Amongst the figures released it was revealed 74 per cent of children's and youth FA Charter Standard clubs now have least one qualified coach while participation rates in girls' football had hit a high.
They are numbers to enthuse Hurst who, while admitting there is still work to be done, believes England's malaise on the world stage can be drawn back to more modest levels.
"We're not producing players and coaches," said Hurst.
"You only have to look at the Premier League where there is a dearth of players playing which is a problem for England. We don't have as many to choose from.
"We need some more. We are 10 years behind everyone else.
"We hope St George's Park is going to develop the quality we want. Maybe in 10 years' time we will we be able to look back and see that.
"But we need to be providing a stage for young players to come into the game and then, when they are playing, enjoying and learning from qualified coaches.
"You take the grassroots coaches away and you are going to have nothing. It's such an important issue.
"We are certainly behind places like Spain in terms of the numbers of players and the development. It's the same with Germany.
"But you can see us catching up. We are doing that."
Hurst believes previous systems have short-circuited England's efforts to produce the type and number of world-class players that he played alongside in 1966.
"We won the World Cup with four or five world-class players, that's how you are successful," he said.
"I don't think today we've got as many world-class players in these key positions now.
"There has been a lot of focus on Wayne Rooney in the past and coming through you look at Jack Wilshere who is a great prospect.
"But you worry about him with another injury. That's why we talk about the number of top-class players.
"We need two Jack Wilshere's because if one gets injured we have someone to take his place.
"A classic example is Jimmy Greaves. He was a world-class player, he got injured and I came in and take his place.
"I did all right. Not too bad so I heard."
When Hurst was growing up he did not play an organised match until he was 11, instead learning the game on the streets outside his Chelmsford home.
The 71-year-old knows those days are long gone, but believes a move toward small-sided pitches can help modern-day children to replicate the skills he learned on kerbsides in his formative years.
"Small-sided games take you back to the bones of what we did," he said.
"In the streets, the playground or with a tennis ball. We played in the playground with bomb shelters for goalposts.
"The backbone of our team in '66 - it was that way of playing, that simple system produced world-class players.
"Kids aren't going to play on the street now. We can get close as we can to doing that with these small-sided games.
"And if we can provide the coaches with the intelligence and education - to not over coach enjoy it - we can go far.
"My old coach Ron Greenwood, who knew a thing or two, at West Ham had a saying: 'Simplicity is genius'.
"Everything was simple. That's the way to do it."
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