Tony Azzopardi left Malta with nothing in his pockets around 40 years ago. Since then he has carved a name for himself and helped save the Maltese football legacy.
Mr Azzopardi's strong, firm handshake reflects his powerful character and determination to succeed. If it wasn't for him, the only "true Maltese" football club in Sydney would have faded into oblivion by now.
He says with a hint of regret that the number of 'original' Maltese migrants in Australia is shrinking: "They're either retired, old or dead and unfortunately the young Maltese are not interested in carrying on this club."
As labour of love for more than a decade, Mr Azzopardi has assumed the role of president of the Parramatta Melita Eagles Sports football club in Sydney.
"In the past two-and-a-half years there have been many changes, mainly due to financial problems," he explains. Even though the club's "role is to protect the interests of the Maltese community", the football club could not possibly have survived, so Mr Azzopardi had to do something radical together with his committee.
In 2006 he took the initiative of partnering the club with organisations. After long and delicate negotiations, Parramatta Melita Eagles reached a partnership agreement with the Police Community and Youth Club (PCYC) of New South Wales. The PCYC is a big, well established organisation supported by the NSW Police and has around 55 clubs across the state.
Mr Azzopardi literally set the ball rolling with the PCYC partnership and succeeded in tapping funding, making the club financially better off. They signed their partnership agreement in October 2006.
The club is doing extremely well, finishing second in their league, but it is the semi-finals that will determine who will win the Championship.
Why does he do this? "Somebody's got to do it," says Mr Azzopardi, a man who really loves football and who evidently has the skills to direct the club. Needless to say, his leadership qualities have taken him far in his full-time job. He has been operations manager of one of the strategic business units within the company since 1996 and also leads a manufacturing plant of Dupont.
"In Australia and the corporate world we speak about leadership, not management - you either have it or you don't," the successful Maltese export says.
At the age of 20, Mr Azzopardi packed his bags and left for Australia with his girlfriend in 1970, because he felt he needed a change. Keen to land a job, he took on a post at multinational company Dupont with the help of his girlfriend's cousin. Although he started off as a storeman, within a few years he had moved up to a leadership position.
Dupont has researched and developed several products all over the world including friction-free swimming products, astronaut gear, lycra, as well as Kevlar, Auto Paints, Corian, bio fuels and food packaging. Dupont is also a world leader in human safety technology, so much so that other multinational companies have adopted them as their improvement benchmark. The company is now a worldwide business operating in more than 70 countries.
Mr Azzopardi, 59, feels he fitted in easily into the company as he grew along with it: "What you need is a bit of common sense".
He said discrimination had never been as issue Down Under. "Australia is a very fair country, it doesn't matter whether you were born there or not, whether you studied there or not, whether you're black or white; if you've got what it takes, and have the drive, opportunities are equally there for you."
He explained how Maltese generally assimilate well whereever they are. "However, it comes down to an individual's attitude of how he is received. Australia is a diverse, multi-cultural country; the people are very tolerant of newcomers, regardless of race, colour or background. A person who finds himself isolated has only himself to blame."