The reason why Arsenal changed the direction of the cannon on their badge after 77 years

Arsenal's iconic canon has been on the club's crest throughout their 137-year history but why has it changed direction?

The club are widely known for being based in North London, but they were formed in the southeast London town of Woolwich in 1886 by a group of workers at Royal Arsenal.

Woolwich's Royal Dockyard was used to defend London from invasion with canons stationed on the south bank of the River Thames.

So from the very beginning Arsenal have paid homage to Woolwich and its military influence with the canons on their crest.

Image: Getty

There have been 11 different versions of the iconic Arsenal badge, but it's the canon that has remained throughout.

Even when the Gunners moved north of the river to Highbury in 1913 they kept the canons on the badge as a mark of their history.

In 2002, after winning the Premier League title, the club changed the badge to the version in use today, and with that the direction of the canon.

According to The Athletic, the reason the club changed the canon from west-facing to east-facing was to embrace the future and move forward.

They have only won the title once since the change, although Mikel Arteta's side are currently top of the Premier League table after 17 games.

In the 2021/22 season, they took the use of the canon to a whole new level. Kit manufacturer Adidas took advantage of Arsenal's story in its campaign for the away kit

Titled, 'The return of the canon', it was a tribute to Arsenal's 1971 FA Cup victory and they have continued to use the canon on last season's black away kit and this season's green and navy third strip.

Getty Images)

Aside from this, the only other change made to Arsenal's current badge came in the 2011/12 season when they commemorated their 125th anniversary.

Given more recent changes in club crests from fellow Premier League teams, the Gunners are due an update so we could soon a new version of the iconic badge.