Integrity Score 100
No Records Found
No Records Found
No Records Found
What is the first thing that comes to mind when you think of Arsenal Football Club? Red and white shirts? Perhaps it is a player – Thierry Henry? Well, whatever the it may be, surely the badge, and naturally the cannon, cannot be far behind.
In fact, the cannon is so closely associated with Arsenal that it has appeared on every single club crest barring one, when the legendary Herbert Chapman introduced a crest with just the letters ‘A’ and ‘C’ along with a leather football. It was an attempt to rebrand the club at the time, but for a club formed out of the Woolwich Arsenal, you could only keep the cannon away for so long. The very first crest had been inspired by the Coat of Arms of the Metropolitan Borough of Woolwich, containing three cannons facing upwards. When Woolwich Arsenal FC eventually became Arsenal FC, there were some doubts over the continuity of the cannon, but the reworked crest would contain a single cannon facing west.
There would be multiple changes in the initial years though and the west facing cannon would be replaced by a three-dimensional east facing one in a year, with “The Gunners” also appearing on the crest for the first time. However, this crest would be changed too in three years, with the cannon reverting to its two-dimensional west facing profile and the wordings moving to the right. There would then be a massive revamp in 1949 when the Victoria Concordia Crescit crest was introduced, removing the wording and instead adding “Arsenal” to the top of the crest, with the motto appearing at the bottom. The cannon would be centered, and remained in the west facing position. That crest remained largely unchanged for about 53 years, only being cleaned up a bit in 2001, and eventually Arsenal would settle for their current crest in 2002, going for a rather simplistic design in line with modern times, with an east facing cannon and “Arsenal” at the top.
Whichever direction it may face, the cannon remains a tribute to the club’s origins and a symbol that unites fans far and wide.