Rodrigo Alejandro "Roddy" Vargas (born 20 October 1978) is an Australian

soccer Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 players who primarily use their feet to propel the ball around a rectangular field called a pitch. The objective of the game is ...

player who plays as a

central defender In the sport of association football, a defender is an outfield position whose primary role is to stop attacks during the game and prevent the opposition from scoring. Centre-backs are usually positioned in pairs, with one full-back on either s ...

for the Victorian State League Division 1 club

Nunawading City FC Nunawading City Football Club is an Australian semi-professional association football club based in Forest Hill, Victoria, Forest Hill, a suburb of Melbourne, Victoria (Australia), Victoria. Founded in 1971, the club currently competes in the ...

, but is mostly known for his time at

Melbourne Victory FC Melbourne Victory Football Club is an Australian professional soccer club based in Melbourne, Victoria. Competing in the country's premier men's competition, the A-League Men, under licence from Australian Professional Leagues (APL), Victory e ...

Green Gully Cavaliers Green Gully Soccer Club is an Australian association football club based in Melbourne, Victoria. Green Gully is one of the largest clubs in Melbourne, having participated in the now defunct National Soccer League between 1984–1986. The club c ...

and at Melbourne Knights FC, where he was club captain.

Club career

Vargas began his career at the

Victorian Premier League The National Premier Leagues Victoria, commonly known as NPL Victoria, is a semi-professional soccer league in Victoria, Australia. The league is a part of the National Premier Leagues, and is the highest level within the Victorian soccer leagu ...

side, Springvale City, where he debuted at the age of 17 under Gus McLeod. After three seasons with Port Melbourne, at the age of 21, he was recruited by

National Soccer League The National Soccer League (NSL) was the top-level soccer league in Australia, run by Soccer Australia and later the Australian Soccer Association. The NSL, the A-League's predecessor, spanned 28 seasons from its inception in 1977 until its d ...

side Melbourne Knights FC. He had a very successful tenure at the club, playing in over 100 games in five seasons as well as being awarded the captaincy. When the National Soccer League came to an end in 2004, he moved to the Victorian Premier League side

Green Gully Green Gully Soccer Club is an Australian association football club based in Melbourne, Victoria. Green Gully is one of the largest clubs in Melbourne, having participated in the now defunct National Soccer League between 1984–1986. The club ...

in 2005, where he developed a reputation as a goal scoring defender from set pieces. Vargas was drafted into

in 2006 after a successful trial, and soon became a key member of the Victory back line. He was the subject in a controversy when he was allegedly called a "black monkey" by the Newcastle United Jets midfielder,

Stuart Musialik Stuart Musialik (born 29 March 1985 in Newcastle, Australia) is an Australian professional footballer. Club career Born and raised in Newcastle, he played junior football for Adamstown Rosebuds and was selected to play in representative sides s ...

. Vargas was a key member of the Melbourne Victory team in their first appearance in the

Asian Champions League The AFC Champions League (abbreviated as ACL) is an annual continental club football competition organised by the Asian Football Confederation, and contested by Asia's top-division football clubs. It is the most prestigious club competition ...

in 2008 against Chunnan Dragons at the Telstra Dome. Vargas capped off a great performance with a brilliant goal, the club's second ever in Asia and only the second by Vargas for Melbourne Victory. Vargas was also captain for Melbourne Victory in their pre-season Cup win over Wellington Phoenix on 6 August 2008. On 28 March 2012, it was announced that he had been released from Melbourne Victory after six seasons with the club. Two days later, Green Gully Cavaliers announced that he would rejoin his brother Andy at their club. He played his first match for them the next day. On 23 February 2013, Rodrigo Vargas was charged by the FFV with entering the field of play without permission and directing violent conduct towards an opposing Bentleigh Greens player during a pre-season practice match between Green Gully and Bentleigh. At a tribunal hearing on 13 March 2013 he pleaded guilty and was banned from FFV football until 14 April 2013. Vargas helped Green Gully secure the 2013 Dockerty Cup. After being released by Green Gully after the 2016 season, Vargas joined NPL Victoria 2 side

Dandenong Thunder SC Dandenong Thunder SC is a soccer club from Dandenong, a suburb in the South-East region of Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. They are an Albanian Australian-backed club. Thunder compete in the National Premier Leagues Victoria. In 2012, Dandenon ...

. After his brother Andy was sacked as coach of Thunder in June 2018, Vargas joined FC Bulleen Lions.

International career

Born in Australia, Vargas is of Chilean descent. He was included in the Australia national football team for the AFC World Cup qualification matches against

Qatar Qatar (, ; ar, قطر, Qaṭar ; local vernacular pronunciation: ), officially the State of Qatar,) is a country in Western Asia. It occupies the Qatar Peninsula on the northeastern coast of the Arabian Peninsula in the Middle East; it sh ...

and

Iraq Iraq,; ku, عێراق, translit=Êraq officially the Republic of Iraq, '; ku, کۆماری عێراق, translit=Komarî Êraq is a country in Western Asia. It is bordered by Turkey to Iraq–Turkey border, the north, Iran to Iran–Iraq ...

and an international friendly against

Ghana Ghana (; tw, Gaana, ee, Gana), officially the Republic of Ghana, is a country in West Africa. It abuts the Gulf of Guinea and the Atlantic Ocean to the south, sharing borders with Ivory Coast in the west, Burkina Faso in the north, and To ...

, but did not play his first international game until January 2009 against

Indonesia Indonesia, officially the Republic of Indonesia, is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania between the Indian and Pacific oceans. It consists of over 17,000 islands, including Sumatra, Java, Sulawesi, and parts of Borneo and New Guine ...

for an Asian Cup qualification match.

Honours

With

: *

A-League Championship A-League Men (known as the Isuzu UTE A-League for sponsorship reasons) is the highest-level professionalism in association football, professional men's association football, soccer league in Australia and New Zealand. At the top of the Austral ...

: 2006-2007, 2008-2009 * A-League Premiership: 2006-2007, 2008-2009 Personal honours: *

Victory Medal: 2007-2008

References

External links

Melbourne Victory profile

{{DEFAULTSORT:Vargas, Rodrigo 1978 births Living people Soccer players from Melbourne Australian people of Chilean descent Sportspeople of Chilean descent Springvale White Eagles FC players Port Melbourne SC players Melbourne Knights FC players Melbourne Victory FC players A-League Men players Australia men's international soccer players National Soccer League (Australia) players National Premier Leagues players Men's association football defenders Australian soccer players