Why Are Arsenal Called the Gunners?
Arsenal are called the Gunners because the club grew out of the Royal Arsenal munitions factory in Woolwich. Workers there formed a football team in 1886, and the nickname preserves that connection to their workplace. The team first played as Dial Square, taking its name from one of the factory’s workshops. It soon became Royal Arsenal, then Woolwich Arsenal in 1893, the year it entered the Football League. These names linked the club to both its industrial origins and its original home in south London. The club moved to Highbury in north London in 1913. Its name was shortened to The Arsenal and later Arsenal, but the older factory connection survived in the Gunners nickname. That is why a team associated with north London still carries a name rooted in a workplace south of the River Thames. Source: Premier League’s club-name history .
