Stephen Silvagni (born 31 May 1967) is a former Australian rules footballer who played for the

Carlton Football Club The Carlton Football Club, nicknamed the Blues, is a professional Australian rules football club that competes in the Australian Football League (AFL), the sport's top professional competition. Founded in 1864 in Carlton, an inner suburb of Me ...

in the Australian Football League (AFL). As the second member of three generations of Silvagnis to represent the Blues, he is regarded as one of the greatest ever full-backs to play the game and was named as full-back in the

AFL Team of the Century The Australian Football League (AFL) is the only fully professional sports, professional competition of Australian rules football. Through the AFL Commission, the AFL also serves as the sport's governing body and is responsible for controlling ...

and is an inductee in the Australian Football Hall of Fame. Prior to 1985 he captained the undefeated Marcellin College 1st XVIII that won both the 1984 Associated Grammar Schools premiership, and the coveted Herald Shield Cup then played under lights at

Waverley Park Waverley Park (also and originally called VFL Park) was an Australian rules football stadium in Mulgrave, Victoria, Australia. For most of its history, its purpose was as a neutral venue and used by all Victorian-based Victorian Football ...

. He is widely known by his nickname, "SOS" (pronounced "Soss"), standing for "Son of Serge", referring to his father,

Sergio Silvagni Sergio Valentino Silvagni (28 June 1938 – 15 July 2021) was an Australian rules footballer who played for the Carlton Football Club in the Victorian Football League (VFL), mostly as a ruck-rover. He was the first of three generations to r ...

, another great Carlton player. After retiring from playing, Silvagni has worked as an

assistant coach A sports coach is a person coaching in sport, involved in the direction, instruction and training of a sports team or athlete. History The original sense of the word ''coach'' is that of a horse-drawn carriage, deriving ultimately from the Hun ...

and list manager at several AFL clubs. He is the former list manager of Carlton Football Club.

Playing career

Carlton

Silvangi was drafted to Carlton under the

father–son rule The father–son rule is a rule that allows clubs preferential recruiting access to the sons of players who have made a major past contribution to the club in Australian rules football, most notably in the Australian Football League. The rule ...

, being The son of former Carlton Blues champion

and it was scarcely a surprise when he followed in his father's footsteps and made his Carlton debut, aged 17, in 1985. He is widely known by his nickname, "SOS" (pronounced "Soss"), standing for "Son of Serge", Silvagni was a highly energetic, resourceful footballer who was regarded as one of the finest full backs. He could also do a job in the forward lines, however, and some of his most memorable displays came after he was thrown into attack in an effort to bolster the team's performance. Silvagni's defensive skills were renowned and earned him the status as a true clubman at Carlton. In 1996's AFL

Team of the Century In team sport, team of the century and team of the decade are hypothetical best teams over a given time period. For the century team, it can be either 100 years, or for a century (always the 20th). Similarly the team of the decade can be for 10 ...

, Silvagni had the honour of being named at full-back. He retained the title as the best full-back for four years in succession, although he was also known for his marking and goalkicking ability when playing at the opposite end of the ground in the full-forward position at times, even kicking a bag of 10 goals in Round 16, 1993 against the

Fitzroy Lions The Fitzroy Football Club is an Australian rules football club currently competing in the Victorian Amateur Football Association (VAFA). Formed in 1883 to represent the inner-Melbourne municipality of Fitzroy, the club was a member of the V ...

. Possibly his finest game was in the

1995 AFL Grand Final The 1995 AFL Grand Final was an Australian rules football game contested between the Geelong Football Club and Carlton Football Club, held at the Melbourne Cricket Ground in Melbourne on 30 September 1995. It was the 99th annual grand final of ...

where he kept Geelong legend Gary Ablett goalless for the entire game. In addition to Silvagni's blanketing tactics, he was also a renowned high-flyer, taking out the

Mark of the Year The annual Australian Football League Mark of the Year competition (currently also known as the Four'N Twenty AFL Mark of the Year) is a sporting award that celebrates each season's best mark. A mark is the action of a player cleanly catchin ...

in 1988. However, when one such mark led to an ankle injury, the high-flying aspect of his game largely disappeared. Silvangi retired from his playing career at the end of the 2001 season, after he announced that he was taking specialist advice to call it a day after 16 seasons. A year after his retirement at the end of the 2001 season he announced that he would make a comeback to assist Carlton, following their penalties for

salary cap In professional sports, a salary cap (or wage cap) is an agreement or rule that places a limit on the amount of money that a team can spend on players' salaries. It exists as a per-player limit or a total limit for the team's roster, or both. Sever ...

infringements. He however changed his mind soon after and was not a listed player for the 2003 season. Silvagni also played as goalkeeper for the Australian International Rules team on several occasions, and won the inaugural Jim Stynes Medal in 1998.

Silvagni was a five time

All-Australian The All-Australian team is an all-star team of Australian rules footballers, selected by a panel at the end of each season. It represents a complete team, including an interchange bench, of the best-performed players during the season, led b ...

, being selected in 1994, 1995, 1996, 1997 and 1999. Silvagni played for

from 1985 until 2001 for a total of 312 games and kicked a total of 202 goals. Silvangi was also a member of Carlton's 1987 and 1995 premiership sides

Coaching career

After retiring from playing, Silvagni worked as an

at four AFL clubs between 2002 and 2010, Collingwood, Sydney,

Western Bulldogs The Western Bulldogs are a professional Australian rules football team that competes in the Australian Football League (AFL), the sport's premier competition. Founded in 1877 as the Footscray Football Club, and based in West Footscray in the o ...

, and most recently St Kilda from 2007 until the end of 2010.

Sports Administration career

In 2011, Silvagni took on the role of list manager with the fledgling Greater Western Sydney Giants.Greater Western Sydney's list manager Stephen Silvagni ready for national draft
/ref> He returned to Carlton as list manager in 2014. He was notably active in recruiting former GWS players to Carlton, with nine former GWS players shifting to Carlton in Silvagni's first three recruiting years. Stephen departed the Carlton Football Club, when he left his role as list manager on 4 December 2019, following the 2019 AFL season. On 21 October 2020, nearly a year after Silvagni's departure from the Carlton Football Club in his role as list manager, Silvagni gave an interview on SEN radio station and he was critical of the club's administrators of Carlton Football Club President Mark LoGiudice and Carlton Football Club CEO Cain Liddle during his time at the club in his tenure as the list manager. Silvagni then described his tenure at the club as a "messy" situation because of the falling out with the club's management.

Statistics

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1985 The year 1985 was designated as the International Youth Year by the United Nations. Events January * January 1 ** The Internet's Domain Name System is created. ** Greenland withdraws from the European Economic Community as a result of a ...

, style="text-align:center;", , 1 , , 17 , , 1 , , 0 , , 133 , , 61 , , 194 , , 61 , , , , 0.1 , , 0.0 , , 7.8 , , 3.6 , , 11.4 , , 3.6 , , , , 4 , - ! scope="row" style="text-align:center" ,

1986 The year 1986 was designated as the International Year of Peace by the United Nations. Events January * January 1 **Aruba gains increased autonomy from the Netherlands by separating from the Netherlands Antilles. **Spain and Portugal enter ...

, style="text-align:center;", , 1 , , 13 , , 9 , , 8 , , 87 , , 42 , , 129 , , 45 , , , , 0.7 , , 0.6 , , 6.7 , , 3.2 , , 9.9 , , 3.5 , , , , 0 , - style="background-color: #EAEAEA" , style="text-align:center;background:#afe6ba;",

1987 File:1987 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: The MS Herald of Free Enterprise capsizes after leaving the Port of Zeebrugge in Belgium, killing 193; Northwest Airlines Flight 255 crashes after takeoff from Detroit Metropolitan Airport, ...

† , style="text-align:center;", , 1 , , 15 , , 24 , , 9 , , 99 , , 54 , , 153 , , 50 , , 21 , , 1.6 , , 0.6 , , 6.6 , , 3.6 , , 10.2 , , 3.3 , , 1.4 , , 0 , - ! scope="row" style="text-align:center" ,

1988 File:1988 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The oil platform Piper Alpha explodes and collapses in the North Sea, killing 165 workers; The USS Vincennes (CG-49) mistakenly shoots down Iran Air Flight 655; Australia celebrates its Bicenten ...

, style="text-align:center;", , 1 , , 24 , , 12 , , 12 , , 187 , , 99 , , 286 , , 74 , , 31 , , 0.5 , , 0.5 , , 7.8 , , 4.1 , , 11.9 , , 3.1 , , 1.3 , , 9 , - style="background-color: #EAEAEA" ! scope="row" style="text-align:center" ,

1989 File:1989 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The Cypress structure collapses as a result of the 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake, killing motorists below; The proposal document for the World Wide Web is submitted; The Exxon Valdez oil tanker runs ...

, style="text-align:center;", , 1 , , 6 , , 8 , , 8 , , 50 , , 18 , , 68 , , 24 , , 10 , , 1.3 , , 1.3 , , 8.3 , , 3.0 , , 11.3 , , 4.0 , , 1.7 , , 0 , - ! scope="row" style="text-align:center" ,

1990 File:1990 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The 1990 FIFA World Cup is played in Italy; The Human Genome Project is launched; Voyager I takes the famous Pale Blue Dot image- speaking on the fragility of humanity on Earth, astrophysicist ...

, style="text-align:center;", , 1 , , 22 , , 5 , , 7 , , 206 , , 142 , , 348 , , 109 , , 51 , , 0.2 , , 0.3 , , 9.4 , , 6.5 , , 15.8 , , 5.0 , , 2.3 , , 16 , - style="background-color: #EAEAEA" ! scope="row" style="text-align:center" ,

1991 File:1991 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Boris Yeltsin, elected as Russia's first president, waves the new flag of Russia after the 1991 Soviet coup d'état attempt, orchestrated by Soviet hardliners; Mount Pinatubo erupts in the Phi ...

, style="text-align:center;", , 1 , , 9 , , 3 , , 4 , , 92 , , 68 , , 160 , , 48 , , 18 , , 0.3 , , 0.4 , , 10.2 , , 7.6 , , 17.8 , , 5.3 , , 2.0 , , 6 , - ! scope="row" style="text-align:center" , 1992 , style="text-align:center;", , 1 , , 12 , , 28 , , 12 , , 70 , , 34 , , 104 , , 43 , , 11 , , 2.3 , , 1.0 , , 5.8 , , 2.8 , , 8.7 , , 3.6 , , 0.9 , , 5 , - style="background-color: #EAEAEA" ! scope="row" style="text-align:center" ,

1993 File:1993 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The Oslo I Accord is signed in an attempt to resolve the Israeli–Palestinian conflict; The Russian White House is shelled during the 1993 Russian constitutional crisis; Czechoslovakia is peacefu ...

, style="text-align:center;", , 1 , , 22 , , 20 , , 14 , , 185 , , 118 , , 303 , , 91 , , 32 , , 0.9 , , 0.6 , , 8.4 , , 5.4 , , 13.8 , , 4.1 , , 1.5 , , 6 , - ! scope="row" style="text-align:center" ,

1994 File:1994 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The 1994 Winter Olympics are held in Lillehammer, Norway; The Kaiser Permanente building after the 1994 Northridge earthquake; A model of the MS Estonia, which sank in the Baltic Sea; Nelson ...

, style="text-align:center;", , 1 , , 24 , , 4 , , 3 , , 170 , , 133 , , 303 , , 76 , , 40 , , 0.2 , , 0.1 , , 7.1 , , 5.5 , , 12.6 , , 3.2 , , 1.7 , , 6 , - style="background-color: #EAEAEA" , style="text-align:center;background:#afe6ba;",

1995 File:1995 Events Collage V2.png, From left, clockwise: O.J. Simpson is acquitted of the murders of Nicole Brown Simpson and Ronald Goldman from the year prior in "The Trial of the Century" in the United States; The Great Hanshin earthquake str ...

† , style="text-align:center;", , 1 , , 24 , , 7 , , 8 , , 213 , , 91 , , 304 , , 82 , , 29 , , 0.3 , , 0.3 , , 8.9 , , 3.8 , , 12.7 , , 3.4 , , 1.2 , , 1 , - ! scope="row" style="text-align:center" , 1996 , style="text-align:center;", , 1 , , 24 , , 6 , , 4 , , 173 , , 92 , , 265 , , 75 , , 44 , , 0.3 , , 0.2 , , 7.2 , , 3.8 , , 11.0 , , 3.1 , , 1.8 , , 5 , - style="background-color: #EAEAEA" ! scope="row" style="text-align:center" ,

1997 File:1997 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The movie set of ''Titanic'', the highest-grossing movie in history at the time; '' Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone'', is published; Comet Hale-Bopp passes by Earth and becomes one of ...

, style="text-align:center;", , 1 , , 18 , , 25 , , 13 , , 156 , , 66 , , 222 , , 76 , , 20 , , 1.4 , , 0.7 , , 8.7 , , 3.7 , , 12.3 , , 4.2 , , 1.1 , , 5 , - ! scope="row" style="text-align:center" ,

1998 1998 was designated as the ''International Year of the Ocean''. Events January * January 6 – The ''Lunar Prospector'' spacecraft is launched into orbit around the Moon, and later finds evidence for frozen water, in soil in permanently s ...

, style="text-align:center;", , 1 , , 18 , , 15 , , 14 , , 166 , , 59 , , 225 , , 61 , , 34 , , 0.8 , , 0.8 , , 9.2 , , 3.3 , , 12.5 , , 3.4 , , 1.9 , , 2 , - style="background-color: #EAEAEA" ! scope="row" style="text-align:center" ,

1999 File:1999 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The funeral procession of King Hussein of Jordan in Amman; the 1999 İzmit earthquake kills over 17,000 people in Turkey; the Columbine High School massacre, one of the first major school shoot ...

, style="text-align:center;", , 1 , , 24 , , 15 , , 20 , , 216 , , 117 , , 333 , , 108 , , 25 , , 0.6 , , 0.8 , , 9.0 , , 4.9 , , 13.9 , , 4.5 , , 1.0 , , 2 , - ! scope="row" style="text-align:center" ,

2000 File:2000 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Protests against Bush v. Gore after the 2000 United States presidential election; Heads of state meet for the Millennium Summit; The International Space Station in its infant form as seen from S ...

, style="text-align:center;", , 1 , , 20 , , 5 , , 1 , , 177 , , 105 , , 282 , , 89 , , 33 , , 0.3 , , 0.1 , , 8.9 , , 5.3 , , 14.1 , , 4.5 , , 1.7 , , 0 , - style="background-color: #EAEAEA" ! scope="row" style="text-align:center" , 2001 , style="text-align:center;", , 1 , , 20 , , 15 , , 13 , , 172 , , 107 , , 279 , , 111 , , 26 , , 0.8 , , 0.7 , , 8.6 , , 5.4 , , 14.0 , , 5.6 , , 1.3 , , 2 , - class="sortbottom" ! colspan=3, Career ! 312 ! 202 ! 150 ! 2552 ! 1406 ! 3958 ! 1223 ! 425 ! 0.6 ! 0.5 ! 8.2 ! 4.5 ! 12.7 ! 3.9 ! 1.5 ! 69

Personal life

Stephen Silvagni married television celebrity

Jo Bailey Joanne Louise Silvagni (née Bailey; 10 March 1970) is an Australian model and television personality and television hostess/compere. Career Silvagni was born on 10 March 1970 to Barrie and Fran Bailey and was educated at Tintern Grammar, in t ...

in 1996, and they have three sons. Their eldest son

Jack Jack may refer to: Places * Jack, Alabama, US, an unincorporated community * Jack, Missouri, US, an unincorporated community * Jack County, Texas, a county in Texas, USA People and fictional characters * Jack (given name), a male given name, ...

was drafted by the Carlton Football Club in 2015. He played his first match in round 15, 2016 against Collingwood. Their second son, Ben, was also drafted by the Carlton Football Club in the

2018 AFL draft The 2018 AFL draft consisted of the various periods where the 18 clubs in the Australian Football League (AFL) traded and recruited players following the completion of the 2018 AFL season. For the first time, the AFL draft featured live trading ...

but was subsequently delisted after the 2020 season without having played a game. Since retiring from playing football he has worked in the media as a guest football commentator. Former

key defender Alex Silvagni is Stephen's second cousin. (Alex's father Eric and Stephen's father Sergio are first cousins.)

References

External links

* *
Stephen Silvagni Profile in Blueseum
{{DEFAULTSORT:Silvagni, Steve Carlton Football Club players Carlton Football Club Premiership players Australian rules football commentators 1967 births Living people Australian Football Hall of Fame inductees Victorian State of Origin players All-Australians (AFL) John Nicholls Medal winners Australian people of Italian descent Australian rules footballers from Melbourne Australia international rules football team players People educated at Marcellin College, Bulleen Two-time VFL/AFL Premiership players