Stephen Silvagni speaks after son found guilty of rape
Stephen Silvagni has read out a statement after his son Tom was found guilty of rape.
‘No longer on speaking terms’: New details of AFL legend’s bitter split from club
The sheer bitterness and broken relationships at the centre of Carlton’s falling out with club legend Stephen Silvagni has been revealed.
Stephen Silvagni before the axe fell. Photo by Michael Willson/AFL Media/Getty Images.
They’re all gone.
All the key players in the Carlton Football Club’s falling out with club legend Stephen Silvagni have departed.
New details of the bitterness at the centre of the fiasco have now emerged as the champion fullback prepares to face his former club while wearing St Kilda colours when they meet at Marvel Stadium on Sunday.
The situation was brought to the surface last month when Silvagni refused an offer to enter the club’s dressing rooms as son Jack celebrated his 100th AFL game in the season opener against Richmond.
The Silvagnis are synonymous with the Carlton Football Club, and the family have had a strong presence at Princes Park dating back to the early 1950s, with three generations of the family wearing the navy blue No. 1 jumper.
It’s why Silvagni’s reported decision to stay in the car as his son was honoured for his milestone match has left many fans sad. There has also been an argument that the man popularly referred to as “SOS” didn’t want to steel attention from his son’s big moment by walking into the sheds and attracting glances.
There are no issues within the family. Stephen Silvagni’s dislike is directed purely at his former football club, it has been widely reported.
Now, The Herald Sun has revealed new details on exactly how destructive the situation was before Silvagni was pushed out the door in 2019.
The Silvagni family, with 100-gamer Jack in the Carlton rooms. Source: Twitter
The report identifies several significant factors for why Stephen Silvagni isn’t involved with the club he played 321 games with, including:
— Silvagni is not close with many of his former teammates with one source telling the newspaper he is one of the reasons that a reunion for the 1995 premiership team would be a hard thing to organise.
— There are still rifts that have not been mended at the football club from when the 2002 salary cap scandal brought the club to its knees. It prompted Silvagni to join Ross Lyon’s coaching staff at St Kilda in 2007.
— Silvagni remained a power largely unto himself at Carlton before his power struggle with former chief executive Cain Liddle.
The report documents Silvagni’s return to Carlton came after a controversial stint as recruitment manager at GWS as the club entered the competition with a war chest of draft picks.
Silvagni was tempted to return to Carlton in 2014 as the club’s list manager when close friend Mark LoGiudice took over as president of the club in 2014.
Stephen Silvagni now wears St Kilda colours. Photo by Michael Willson/AFL Media/Getty Images.
The boat began to rock when Jack was drafted in 2015 as a father-son selection.
Ben Silvagni also joined the club in 2018 as the No. 70 overall pick. He was delisted at the end of the 2020 season.
Friction emerged between Stephen Silvagni and former coach Brendon Bolton in 2019 after Jack Silvagni was dropped from the team early in the season.
A source told The Herald Sun the squabble between Silvagni and the coach was a “car crash waiting to happen”.
Halfway through the 2019 season the crash occurred.
The situation between Silvagni and former chief executive Liddle was reportedly “toxic”.
Silvagni’s close friendship with LoGiudice meant he was able to go above the heads of other people at the club. Liddle took a stand.
“SOS doesn’t like to be challenged and doesn’t like to be held accountable,” an “observer” told The Herald Sun.
“When you’re a champion of a club and you have been treated like your s*** doesn’t stink for so long, you think you can behave like that.
Stephen Silvagni and the Blues are having a good stat to the year. Photo by Michael Willson/AFL Photos via Getty Images.
“Cain Liddle was the first one to stand up to him.”
Despite their close friendship, LoGiudice ultimately sided with Liddle when the chief executive told Silvagni he was not wanted.
The friendship between Silvagni and LoGiudice did not survive. They are reportedly no longer on speaking terms.
It was just the start of the rollercoaster.
Bolton was sacked mid-way through 2019.
LoGiudice stepped down as president in 2021 after former coach David Teague was sacked.
Liddle also departed in 2021 and was replaced by Brian Cook.
Silvagni said in 2020 it was an accusation from Liddle that stung him the most on his way out the door.
“What hurt me the most … probably when your president has a chat to you and he says I’ve fought for you, that the CEO felt as though I would sabotage the trade and draft period,” Silvagni said.
“I hate talking about myself, but when you’ve played for a club for 17 years and you put your body on the line and supported the club all your life, for a person to say you’ll sabotage the trade and draft period, and for me, an outsider that’s come into the club and doesn’t know a lot about the club or me, that was probably the most disappointing out of everything that happened.”
The victim of the Tom Silvagni rape crime has issued a powerful statement the day after the 23-year-old son of an AFL legend received his jail sentence.
Tom, the son of Carlton great Stephen Silvagni and his celebrity wife Jo (née Bailey), was sent to jail for more than six years (with a non-parole of period of three years and three months) for the callous attack on the young woman in his own home on January 14, 2024.
During sentencing it was revealed that the victim — who still can’t be named — had a relationship with Anthony LoGiudice, the son of former Carlton president Mark LoGiudice.
Anthony LoGiudice was known as Mr B during the trial and the man who had consensual sex with the victim on the boozy night of the rape.
The rape occurred after Anthony left the Silvagnis’ Balwyn North luxury home in an Uber. It was his Uber receipt that Tom Silvagni admitted to doctoring to place Anthony in the Silvagni mansion at the time of the rape.
It has been reported that the Silvagnis and the LoGiudices are now “at war” over the case. Police interviewed Anthony in his father’s home on at least two occasions after charges were pressed.
The Silvagni and LoGiudice boys have been friends since kindergarten and went to private school Xavier College together.
During the trial, Tom Silvagni said Anthony LoGiudice was “my best friend at the time”.
Meanwhile, the victim issued a fresh statement on Thursday.
“Thankyou everyone for the insane amount of love and support, over the last weeks, and especially yesterday!” she wrote.
“Yesterday was a win not only for myself, but hopefully gives some hope for survivors everywhere that justice is in fact possible!
“I will never forget the feeling of hearing the judge validate and retell my story, as I told it — the truth, one last time before giving out his sentence
“While I’m gonna be laying low on socials until the appeal period is over, please know that all your support is not going unnoticed. Thankyou.”
During sentencing, the judge noted Silvagni had shown no remorse or insight into his offending, but accepted he was still a young man with no prior convictions.
He acknowledged Silvagni had diagnosed depression and his time in custody would be more difficult as a result.
Intense media scrutiny was also a form of additional punishment but the judge found the reporting had been objective and fair throughout the trial.
Judge Lyon sentenced Silvagni to six years and two months behind bars but he will be eligible for parole after three years and three months.
Silvagni’s parents quickly departed after the sentence, with Jo shoving a female reporter outside court and telling her to go away and do her job.
The couple previously read out a statement to the media, saying their son was innocent and flagging an appeal against the verdicts.
TIMELINE OF EVENTS SURROUNDING THE RAPE
* January 13, 2024: Tom Silvagni hosts his friend Anthony LoGiudice and girlfriend Alannah Iaconis for a day of drinking at his Melbourne home
* Evening of January 13: Mr LoGiudice and Ms Iaconis invite the victim – known under the pseudonym Samantha Taylor – to come over
* 12.20am, January 14: Ms Taylor arrives at the house, the group chat downstairs for a few minutes before Ms Taylor and Ms Iaconis go upstairs
* Silvagni and Mr LoGiudice later follow, with Silvagni showing Ms Taylor around, he asks for a hug and she gives him one
* Ms Taylor and Mr LoGiudice go into a bedroom and have consensual sex
* Mr LoGiudice gets a text from his parents to come home, he tells Ms Taylor he will be organising an Uber to leave
* He goes to Silvagni’s bedroom and asks him to open the front gate so he can move his car onto the street to collect next day
* 1.57am: Silvagni goes downstairs and opens the gate, Mr LoGiudice leaves in an Uber and texts his parents that he’s on his way
* Silvagni goes to Ms Taylor’s bedroom, and tells her Mr LoGiudice’s Uber has been cancelled and he will be returning soon
* Silvagni re-enters the dark room, gets in behind Ms Taylor and spoons her, he reaches a hand over and digitally rapes her
* She wriggles away and questions whether it is Mr LoGiudice, Silvagni tells her it is, he places her over his torso, grabs her arms and digitally rapes her again
* Ms Taylor tells him to stop but he continues, she manages to pull an arm free and touches his hair, realising it is longer than Mr LoGiudice’s
* Ms Taylor says “stop Tom, I know it’s you”, and he gets up and quickly leaves the room
* Silvagni returns minutes later under the guise of hearing a noise and asks her if anything is wrong
* 2.15am: Ms Taylor texts Mr LoGiudice, asking if he is still at the house and he replies he is back home
* Ms Taylor books an Uber and Silvagni asks her for a hug before she leaves
* 3am: Ms Taylor calls her mother and tells her she has been raped, she also texts Ms Iaconis telling her Silvagni has assaulted her
* Between 8.40am and 10am: Silvagni texts and calls Mr LoGiudice, instructing him to say he was the one who returned to the bedroom
* January 15: Silvagni doctors an Uber receipt to make it look like Mr LoGiudice left after 2.30am
* January 22: Ms Taylor formally reports the matter to police
*January 25: Ms Taylor carries out a pre-recorded phone call with Silvagni, he continues to deny he was in the room and says it will be best if she forgets about the incident
* June 14: Silvagni is charged
THE SUPPRESSION FIGHT AFTER SILVAGNI WAS CHARGED
* June 14, 2024: Silvagni faces Melbourne Magistrates Court for the first time and his lawyers successfully apply to have his identity suppressed
* July 5: Lawyers for the media try to have the suppression lifted but the magistrate extends the order
* February 2025: Silvagni is committed to stand trial in the County Court
* April 10: The suppression order lapses but his lawyers apply for it to continue during his trial
* May 2: A judge refuses the suppression application but Silvagni’s lawyers immediately appeal to the Supreme Court
* August 15: A Supreme Court judge rules the case should be suppressed at trial
* November 21: Suppression order is extended, meaning it will only lift three months after the conclusion of the case
* November 24: Silvagni’s rape trial starts in the County Court
* December 5: Jury returns guilty verdicts to the two rape charges, Silvagni is taken into custody ahead of his sentence
* December 11: Suppression order lifts after a judge rules it is no longer necessary
* December 17: Silvagni is sentenced to six years and two months’ jail, with a non-parole period of three years and three months
