Not all football clubs have mottos, and some have ones that can seem ironic with the passing of time. It probably made a lot of sense for Everton to have the motto ‘Nil Satis Nisi Optimum’ when the club was in its more formative years, for example, but nowadays the saying of ‘Nothing But the Best is Good Enough’ seems as though it’s taking the mickey a wee bit. Latin is also the language used for Arsenal’s club motto, this time the words being ‘Victoria Concordia Crescit’, which translates roughly to ‘Victory Grows Through Harmony’. That, at least, seems to be more fitting.
The Origins of the Motto
For a long time, it was accepted that the origins of Arsenal’s Latin motto could be found in the final programme of the 1947-1948 season. It is believed that the editor of the programme at the time, Harry Homer, wrote the following in relation to the club’s title-winning campaign:
…my mind seeks an apt quotation with which to close this season which has been such a glorious one for Tom Whittaker, Joe Mercer and all connected with The Gunners. Shall we turn for once to Latin? ‘Victoria Concordia Crescit’. Translation: ‘Victory grows out of harmony.’
A handbook in 1949-1950 seemed to confirm this as the origins of the motto, stating, “Marksman, writing in the last programme of the season, gave to the club a motto, which was promptly adopted officially because of the harmony which is ever present at Highbury.” At the start of that season, Bob Wall and Jack Crayston designed a new club crest, which put the motto at the bottom of it in a banner style. Yet The Arsenal Collection disputed the idea of this being the first time that such a motto had been used in association with Arsenal, having discovered a reference to it in another article.
The article in question was featured in the programme notes for Arsenal’s game against Hull City on the 20th of September 1913. The programme editor of the time, George Allison, wrote a section entitled ‘Our Weekly Chat by The Directors’, in which one of the Directors, unnamed at the time but likely to have been Henry Norris on account of the fact that William Hall tended to avoid the spotlight, talked of the upbeat mood following a positive start to the season. In his notes, he made reference to the ‘concord’ felt around the club at the time, mentioning the Latin motto for the first time.
Not the First Motto
Another interesting thing when it comes to discussion around the Arsenal motto is that VICTORIA CONCORDIA CRESCIT isn’t the first one that the club was associated with. The first ever crest for Woolwich Arsenal was brought in in 1905 and featured in the ‘Book of Football’. It was based upon the Woolwich Borough coat of arms, seeing three lions’ heads at the bottom of three cannons, with the words ‘CLAMANT NOSTRA TELA IN REGIS QUERELA’ wrapped around it in a banner style and the word ‘WOOLWICH’ appearing at the very bottom.
That Latin saying translates as, “Our Weapons Clash in the King’s Quarrel”. It is fair to say that that is a rather antiquated notion nowadays, so it’s hardly a surprise that it didn’t last all that long as Arsenal’s motto. It is likely that it was dropped when the club moved from Woolwich to Highbury in 1913, becoming simply Arsenal not long after. The club’s links to the gunnery of its former home remained, however, which is why the team is known as the Gunners all these years later. The motto appeared on the badge until 2002, when a new design was introduced and the Latin was removed.
A New Motto?
In 2019, it seemed to be the case that Arsenal’s majority owners at the time, Kroenke Sports & Entertainment, or KSE for short, were considering introducing a new motto. KSE had employed the sports branding team Brand Python to help bring the club ‘more in line with the modern soccer environment’. Stan Kroenke, as an American, understood the value of branding and believed that bringing in a new motto might allow the club to maximise its revenue streams in a more useful manner. Documents stated that the feeling at KSE was that the Latin motto was ‘antiquated’.
The leaked document, which was seen by the Arsenal fan-media site Arseblog, said that Latin, whilst being a ‘scholarly language’, wasn’t one that resonated with the modern fan. Instead, younger supporters of the club wanted something ‘snappy and memorable’ that could be used when ‘bantering’ online. The suggestion from Brand Python was that it should be put to a vote, allowing Arsenal supporters to feel as though they were part of the procedure, offering the following five options:
- Always Invincible
- Great Britain – Great Gunners
- Victory through Va-Va-Voom
- The Club that Arsene Built
- London’s True Royalty
Thankfully, at least from an Arsenal supporter’s point of view, the more eagle-eyed amongst them spotted the fact that the article was published on Arseblog on the first of April, and had been nothing more than a clever ruse to celebrate April Fool’s Day. It was entirely believable because of the fact that the club’s recent kit manufacturer, Puma, had introduced a new slogan in ‘Future, Forever, Victorious’, with one word for each of their new kits. ‘Forever’ had appeared on the club’s centenary kit, prompting fears from some about the desire to move away from the Latin.