Arsenals badge: The iconic cannon that hasnt always faced the same way

What is a badge in any case? It’s a complicated question to answer.

Perhaps your football club’s most ubiquitous symbol is a storied, heraldic design harking back to the local coat of arms or a sleek, modern design dreamt up to look effortlessly slick emblazoned on modern sportswear.

But why is there a tree? Or a bee? Or a devil?

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This week, The Athletic is breaking down the details hiding in plain sight and explaining what makes your club badge.

Arsenal’s reach today is global. Whether that be through Arsene Wenger’s influence in Europe and Asia, the club’s strong history of black players from Africa and those of Caribbean descent, or their presence in North America, they are a footballing staple worldwide.

Even so, what made the club identifiable at their creation 136 years ago has remained throughout their history.

Formed by David Danskin, a Scottish mechanical engineer who worked at the Royal Arsenal in Woolwich, the cannon on the crest has been ever-present — in the area, as well as on the chests of those affiliated with Arsenal.

Woolwich’s Royal Dockyard, used to defend London from invasion, with cannons stationed on the south bank of the River Thames, was opened during King Henry VIII’s reign in 1512. The manufacturing base for the British armed forces that would become known as the Royal Arsenal at King George III’s request in 1805 has origins dating back to the 1540s itself. That history is still on display in the area at the dockyard…

… to the road signage in the neighbourhood.

People have become accustomed to that east-facing cannon that features on the current Arsenal badge, but it has not always sat that way.

That change, from a west-facing cannon, was made in 2002, with a view to the club embracing the future and moving forward.

Different iterations of the cannon came in the 81 years beforehand, with a three-year stint of an east-facing one, with the first “The Gunners” typography, seen between 1922 and 1925 — that was the only deviation from the usual west-facing cannon, from its first appearance on a matchday programme in 1921 and its last, when Arsenal won the league at Old Trafford in 2002.

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Arsenal’s first badge actually featured three cannons and had a more direct connection with Woolwich’s military influence. Although it is now part of the Royal Borough of Greenwich, Woolwich became its own Metropolitan Borough in 1901. They included three north-facing cannons with lion heads on the borough’s coat of arms, which subsequently featured on then-Woolwich Arsenal’s first badge in 1905.

The three-cannon theme still stands in Woolwich today and can be seen on the Royal Arsenal Gatehouse, which now sits beside a local market.

The shield included on the Royal Arsenal Gatehouse also holds similarities to arguably the most stylish crest of Arsenal’s history.

This also went through different iterations but largely kept the same design from 1949 onwards. 

The west-facing cannon and “Arsenal” lettering in gothic font, and the Islington coat of arms, featured on a shield, with what would become the club’s Latin motto, “Victoria Concordia Crescit”, all featured. Inspiration came from Harry Homer, the club’s programme editor in the title-winning 1947-48 campaign.

“My mind seeks an apt quotation with which to close this season which has been such a glorious one for Tom Whittaker, Joe Mercer and all connected with The Gunners,” he wrote in the final matchday programme of that season. “Shall we turn for once to Latin? ‘Victoria Concordia Crescit’. Translation: ‘Victory grows out of harmony’.”

That badge was not always worn on shirts, with the cannon featuring alone with “AFC” lettering throughout the 1970s and 1980s, but did have slight alterations. At times, “The Gunners” slogan would return atop the shield. Initially, it was white and red, then became red, gold and green, and in it’s final season in use (2001-02) was “cleaned up” with a more solid yellow font. Unable to copyright the image due to the frequent changes, that brought about the change to the current crest, with that change of direction for the cannon.

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While the inclusion of the shield and “Arsenal” lettering has made for a more complete crest, there is no mistaking the iconography of the cannon by itself. It was even in the mind of Dave Harrison, who worked for firm Ensign Badges, and Howard Wilkinson, who designed Leeds United’s new crest in 1998.

“He (Wilkinson) wanted something that was more of a logo, something more easily identifiable,” Harrison told The Athletic. “He said to me, ‘The cannon is Arsenal. The tick is Nike’. That’s what he was thinking. He wanted something that jumped out instantly.”

Arsenal’s current kit manufacturer Adidas has taken advantage of that in recent years with its away kit designs. Its campaign for last season’s away kit was named, “The return of the cannon” as it features on its own like the classic shirts of the 1970s, particularly paying homage to the club’s 1971 FA Cup win.

Adidas has continued using the cannon on its own on this season’s black away kit.

The company also took inspiration from the gothic font used in the 20th century on their cup printing between 2020 and 2022, as well as the club’s Art Deco period in the 1930s. They include a nod to the hexagonal-shaped “A, football C” crest that Arsenal used in the 1930s on the back of the 2020-21 home kit and the away kit that year was inspired by Highbury’s Marble Halls.

Aside from the cannon returning on away kits, the only other alteration of Arsenal’s crest came in the 2011-12 season — their 125th anniversary year.

The main crest stayed the same but was accompanied by 15 laurel leaves on the left to reflect the reverse of the detail on the six-pence pieces spent by 15 men to establish the club. On the right, there were 15 oak leaves to acknowledge those founders meeting in The Royal Oak pub. The anniversary years, 1886 and 2011, featured below, joined by the word “forward”.

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Arsenal themselves have taken to displaying their own crests recently, too. The wall by the players’ entrance at London Colney (where new signing or contract-renewal pictures are often taken) only used to have the wording “Arsenal Football Club”. In the last year, that wall has been updated with a selection of club crests.

Interestingly, Woolwich is situated on both sides of the River Thames, with a ferry in operation between the south and north piers. It is therefore quite fitting that Arsenal were created there before moving north to Islington in 1913, which is something they have in common with one of their living legends.

“I always say to people, ‘Yeah, it (playing for Arsenal) was meant to be’ because remember, it was the Woolwich Arsenal before Dial Square,” Ian Wright told The Athletic last year. “I always made reference to the fact I was born to play for us because I was born in Woolwich.

“At the end of the day, we were adopted north Londoners, man. North London loved us.”

(Top image design: Sam Richardson)

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