Arsenal are about to begin another Premier League campaign, and are boasting another new set of kits.
Arsenal’s partnership with Adidas, who replaced Puma in the summer of 2019, has seen some outstanding an innovative kits produced.
There have been throwbacks to iconic old kits, with the 2019 remake of the ‘bruised banana’ shirt proving very popular, whilst the sleek black and gold design in 2022-23 was arguably the best kit in recent times.
One key change made in recent kits has been over the club badge. The current iteration of the Arsenal badge was created in 2002, with the club aiming to modernise in advance of their move from Highbury to the Emirates Stadium, whilst also needing to change due to copyright issues.
This is the badge that has featured on nearly all of Arsenal’s kits since, but the 2021-22 season saw a change as the yellow away kit featured a simplified cannon instead, and this is becoming a common theme.
Why Arsenal have replaced club crest with cannon on all kits this season
All three Arsenal kits this season will have a simplified cannon instead of the club crest. The last time an Arsenal home kit did not have a crest was in the 1989-90 season, which saw a cannon alongside the letters ‘AFC’ emblazoned.
As per The Athletic, Arsenal and Adidas have taken this decision to celebrate the club’s history, and this is not a permanent measure.
“The club recognise that, and want their kits — the most prominent example of their visual identity — to reflect the club’s rich history and tradition. That’s why next year they have chosen to celebrate the cannon,” they revealed in April.
It is unclear whether this means that this will be the norm going forward, but even if the kits do not have the main badge, there are no plans to change the current crest, which features heavily inside and outside the Emirates Stadium.
Controversy over the Arsenal badge
When Arsenal created the current badge in 2002, not all fans were happy. The majority of Arsenal crests in the past saw the cannon facing towards the west, but this was reversed so it now faces the east.
In some older crests across the club’s history, the cannon was indeed facing the east, or even upwards, but the most iconic badges from some of the most successful periods for Arsenal, including the 1971 season when the Gunners won the double, faced the opposite direction to the modern version.
Whilst the concept of a simplified cannon has gone down well in some quarters, there is still a desire from sections of the fanbase to reverse the cannon to truly embrace Arsenal’s history.
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