Our nickname The Gunners is one of the most iconic and recognisable in the world, and the reason is woven into the history of our great club.
Find out more about how the name originated and stuck.
WHY ARE ARSENAL CALLED THE GUNNERS?
You have to go all the way back to 1886 when a group of 15 workers at the Royal Arsenal munitions factory in Woolwich, in south-east London, founded a football club named Dial Square.
The club became known as Royal Arsenal in December 1886, and took on the nickname The Gunners in tribute to the factory our founding fathers worked at. That struck a chord and stuck as we grew in stature and became globally renowned, with our club crest featuring cannon iconography throughout our history.
WHY DOES ARSENAL HAVE A CANNON ON THEIR BADGE?

Our iconic crest has gone through various iterations over the years, but one thing has remained for almost the entirety of our history - cannons.
Our first crest was introduced when we were Woolwich Arsenal in 1905, which featured three cannons in reference to the factory in which we were founded, as well as being based on the Woolwich Borough coat of arms.
In spite of our move out of Woolwich in 1913 to Highbury, the cannon theme continued to develop throughout the years and has remained prominent on our various crests, including the current design.
While the first cannons on the badge had been vertical, in the 1921/22 season, the club’s letterheads were resplendent with a newly designed westward-pointing single cannon. Our crests from 1922 to 1949 would feature the single, horizontal cannon with the words ‘The Gunners’ by its side until 1930.
The famous nickname wouldn’t feature again on our badge until 1994 when a shield was introduced around our iconic badge as ‘The Gunners’ appeared at the top. The Gunners nickname remained on our badge until 2001.
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