Graham Gooch Foundation Donates £20,000 to Cricketers’ Trust
Graham Gooch has spent a lifetime piling up runs for English cricket. Now, at 73, he is still adding to the game’s total – this time with a cheque.
The Graham Gooch Foundation has donated £20,000 to the Cricketers’ Trust, a significant boost aimed squarely at educating and protecting the next generation of professionals. It is money with a clear purpose, not a ceremonial gesture.
Gooch’s next innings: education and protection
Founded by the former Essex and England captain, the Graham Gooch Foundation was built on the values that shaped his career: teamwork, discipline, respect and fair play. Its latest donation plugs directly into two of the PCA’s key education drives – ‘Snus and Athlete Use’ and ‘Money Skills’ – programmes designed to help young players navigate the modern pressures that sit alongside a cricket career.
The Cricketers’ Trust, the charitable arm of the PCA, has a broad brief. It supports current and former professionals and their families with wellbeing, education and personal development, and steps in when players face injury, physical or mental illness, or financial hardship. Gooch’s Foundation sits neatly alongside that mission, sharing a focus on developing cricketers as people as much as performers.
This £20,000 injection is earmarked to deepen that work. It will fund new initiatives that warn players about the risks around Snus use and strengthen financial education, so rookies understand not just how to earn money, but how to keep it and manage it once the dressing-room door eventually closes behind them.
A partnership already well set
This is not a one-off act from a legend passing through. The donation builds on an existing partnership between the two charities.
The Graham Gooch Foundation directly backed the 2023 and 2024 Rookie Camps – then under the banner of the Graham Gooch Scholarship. Across those two years, 95 young male and female professionals passed through the camps, where the topics went far beyond batting technique or bowling plans. Social media use, financial wellbeing, and the dangers of gambling all sat on the agenda, reflecting a game that now recognises how off-field decisions can shape or break a career.
Gooch then extended his support in 2025 by teaming up with the Cricketers’ Trust to stage the inaugural Golf Invitational in Portugal. Across three days in the Algarve, raffles and golf challenges combined to raise £45,000 – a serious sum for a first-time event and another marker of his commitment.
His fundraising has not been confined to fairways and hospitality suites. The 73-year-old has taken on a Coast to Coast Walk and twice tackled the Three Peaks Challenge, in 2018 and 2019, to bring in more money for the Trust. For a man who once ground out marathon innings for Essex and England, the endurance work feels fitting.
“My way of giving back to the game”
Speaking on BBC TMS at Lord’s, Gooch summed up his motivation in typically straightforward fashion.
“It’s my way of giving back to the game and it was a privilege to be welcomed into the huddle to present the cheque for £20,000 and have a picture with Joe (Root).
“All these players may or may not benefit from the Cricketers’ Trust but they do great work, they give educational courses to young players and help those that fall on hard times and ex-players that need medical assistance.
“The Cricketers’ Trust helps past, present and future players who might need support so I’m really honoured to be able to help the Trust through the Graham Gooch Foundation.”
Those words carry weight not just because of the name attached to them, but because of the timing. Player education has become a central pillar of the PCA’s work, with programmes built to help young professionals make informed choices about health, wellbeing and finances throughout their careers – and crucially, to give them structure and direction when the playing days stop.
Backing the full journey, not just the highlights reel
The donation underlines a shared belief: that cricket’s duty of care does not end at the boundary rope or the moment a contract expires. By investing in education, the Graham Gooch Foundation and the Cricketers’ Trust are trying to ensure that rookies arriving in the professional game are better equipped for the opportunities and the hazards that come with it.
The focus is on creating well-rounded individuals – players who understand the hidden traps of modern sport, from addictive habits to financial missteps, and who can step into life after cricket with some kind of roadmap rather than a blank page.
Gooch’s efforts have not gone unnoticed. In 2025 he received the PCA Outstanding Contribution Award, recognition not just for his prolific playing career but for the scale and consistency of his off-field support.
PCA Chief Executive and Cricketers’ Trust Trustee, Daryl Mitchell, captured the mood.
“Graham’s generous donation to the Cricketers' Trust highlights his ongoing support and commitment to the game and all those who play and have played it.
“The education of young players is vital in ensuring their wellbeing and development. The PCA and the Graham Gooch Foundation are working together to provide opportunities for all players who need it. We are extremely grateful to Graham and the Foundation for their continued support of our members.”
The runs Gooch scored for England and Essex are inked permanently into the record books. This latest contribution will never appear on a scorecard, but for the young professionals learning how to handle money, manage risk and look after themselves, it may prove every bit as valuable.
