"Up the Irons!!!". Family tradition has it that My great Grandfather Joe Hansell was the founder of what is now West Ham United. He worked at the Thames Iron Works. Most of the apprentices there came from a local school called St. Luke's and he organised a soccer team at the Iron Works who called themselves "St. Luke's Juveniles". The team eventually came to be called "Thames Iron Works" and then "West Ham United". The supporters cry of "Up the Irons!!!" originated in the Thames Iron Works days.