Tony Farrugia

Tony Farrugia[edit]

Tony "The Strongman" Farrugia is a performing strongman from the Mediterranean island of Malta who performs feats of strength shows to raise money for charity.^[1]

Early Life[edit]

Tony would spend his early years growing up in the United Kingdom attending infant, primary and secondary school there. Tony's parents would decide to move back to Malta when he was just a teenager in his final year of secondary school. From a young age Tony was inspired by the stories of his Grandfather who possessed abnormal strength and was a well known stone lifter from Valletta, Malta. Tony achieved academically at a young age acquiring a total of 14 Ordinary Levels, 9 Intermediate Levels and 10 Advanced Levels. In later years Tony went on to graduate from the University of Malta with a Bachelor of Arts in English and History.

Training[edit]

Tony's training methods are unconventional using heavy objects that he finds outdoors such as stones, cars, logs, skips, fridge freezers,^[2] washing machines among other things.^[3] Tony has stated that his main training method is the ancient art of stone lifting, this he says was passed down to him from his Grandfather who was a revered stone lifter in Malta. Tony has also stated on many occasions that he has hardly ever trained in commercial gyms as he prefers to train outdoors with what he can find. Tony's other training methods include bending steel objects such as nails, spanners, frying pans, horse shoes and rebars. In addition to this training Tony also trains his forearms by ripping books, telephone directories and decks of cards. Tony is a strong opponent of the use of performance enhancing drugs in all sports. He has stated that he is a lifelong natural athlete that has never taken performance enhancing drugs.

Career[edit]

Tony began his performing strongman career in 2015 when he performed at a Puttinu Cares charity event at Hal Safi airfield to help raise money for children suffering with cancer.^[4] Farrugia performed at several more events for Puttinu Cares during 2016 before teaming up with the legendary Maltese strongman Paul Grima better known as Mr. Cool.^[5] The strongman charity team Tony & Cool was then set up during late 2016. This team consisted of the strongman duo Tony and Mr. Cool performing together to help raise funds for charity.^[6] Tony and Mr. Cool went on to perform multiple times for various different charities during the latter part of 2016.^[7][8] In October 2016 Tony made a solo performance at a Gymkhana event in Mosta organised by the Maltese stunt driving team called Team Maximum Lock.^[9][10] In December 2016 while performing at a charity show in Zurrieq^[11] Tony managed to flip over a car weighing 1,950lb (885kg).^[12]

In the beginning of 2017 Tony and Mr. Cool were invited on the Maltese television show Xarabank to perform a series of feats of strength with both Tony and Mr. Cool being recorded in the Malta Records for their respective feats. During this performance Tony managed to squat lift a car with 5 people inside and hold it up for one whole minute. Throughout 2017 Tony performed every month and sometimes more than once a month with Mr. Cool at various charity events around the Maltese islands.^{[13][14][15][16][17]} In June 2017 Tony was featured in Unconventional Athletes magazine an international fitness and sports magazine.^[18] During a charity show performance for ALS Malta^[19] in August 2017 both Tony and Mr. Cool managed to pull a water bowser truck trailer.^[20][21][22]

In 2018 Tony continued to perform every month with his team mate Mr. Cool.^{[23][24][25][26][27][28][29][30]} During June 2018 Tony was featured in a Maltese rap music video called "Storja fil-Memorja" performed by Maltese rap artist Achilles Caestus.^[31]

In 2019 Tony continued to perform with Mr. Cool in various charity shows^{[32][33][34][35][36]} until June 2019 when Mr. Cool unfortunatley had a serious accident falling from a high ladder. After this Tony still continued to perform on his own monthly at a number of different charity events. Tony was interviewed in September 2019 by the strongman John "The Viking" Mouser on his podcast series "Get Strong or Die!".^[37] In October 2019 during a charity show for Puttinu Cares Tony would manage to pull two trucks simultaneously.^[38][39][40] During late 2019 Mr. Cool recovered from his serious injuries and was able to rejoin Tony in performing together at several different charity events.^[41][42]

During 2020 Tony and Mr. Cool auditioned for the first ever season of Malta's Got Talent.^[43] Unfortunately for Tony an illness in his family prevented him from performing on the show despite passing the untelevised audition with his teammate Mr. Cool. Despite this setback Mr. Cool went on to perform on his own on Malta's Got Talent.^[44] In 2020 Tony was unable to perform for charity due to restrictions on all charity events because of the Corona virus pandemic.

References[edit]

1. ↑ Is This Malta's Strongest Man? (August 22, 2016).
2. ↑ Muscle man makes short shrift of heavy fridge as tourists stare.
3. ↑ https://garagegymlifemedia.com/2016/11/28/barbell-do-with-james-fuller/
4. ↑ Plane pulls for Hospice and Puttinu Cares.
5. ↑ UMANI STORJA TA' MR COOL.
6. ↑ Magazine, Vida (June 20, 2018). Real Life Supermen.
7. ↑ WIRJA TA’ SAĦĦA BARRANIJA MINN MR COOL U TONY 'THE STRONGMAN'.
8. ↑ https://newsbook.com.mt/sahha-barranija-f-dirghajh-u-f-qalbu/
9. ↑ https://www.autoyas.com/MT/Mosta/1564104243872366/Team-Maximum-Lock---Drift-Stunt-Experience
10. ↑ https://www.teammaximumlock.com/
11. ↑ PressReader.com - Digital Newspaper & Magazine Subscriptions.
12. ↑ Flipping a 885kg (1951lbs) car for a children's charity!.
13. ↑ https://netnews.com.mt/2017/03/10/filmat-se-jqatta-l-kotba-bidu-u-jigbor-il-flus-ghall-puttinu-cares/
14. ↑ https://www.one.com.mt/news/2017/03/10/ghala-ddecieda-jisfrakassa-ktieb-u-kif-se-tghin-lit-tfal-bil-kancer/
15. ↑ https://newsbook.com.mt/filmat-jekk-tivvutalu-tkun-qed-tghin-lil-puttinu-cares/
16. ↑ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y8C6usewYbY
17. ↑ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sZXUDadKTA0
18. ↑ Unconventional Athletes Issue 11.
19. ↑ https://alsmalta.org/
20. ↑ https://newsbook.com.mt/filmat-jigbdu-bowser-u-jghaffeg-tagen-ghal-puttinu-cares/
21. ↑ https://www.tvm.com.mt/mt/news/filmat-fl-eta-ta-67-mr-cool-jigbed-bowser-ghal-puttinu/
22. ↑ https://www.tvm.com.mt/en/news/filmat-fl-eta-ta-67-mr-cvideo-at-the-age-of-67-mr-cool-tows-bowser-to-raise-funds-for-puttinu-caresool-jigbed-bowser-ghal-puttinu/
23. ↑ https://www.tvm.com.mt/mt/djarju247/wirjiet-ta-karozzi-u-sahha-brisq-il-fondazzjoni-alive/
24. ↑ WATCH: Maltese Strongman Takes On Unsuspecting Skip To Battle Cancer (April 16, 2018).
25. ↑ Qasmulu kantun fuq sidru.
26. ↑ https://netnews.com.mt/2018/04/27/iktar-minn-290-partecipant-ghal-attivita-brisq-il-fondazzjoni-alive-fhaz-zabbar/
27. ↑ https://one.com.mt/nhar-il-hadd-li-gej-tinsewx-iz-zabbar-autofest/
28. ↑ Watch: Little finger enough to lift full gas cylinder.
29. ↑ https://issuu.com/vidamagazinemt/docs/vidajunelow
30. ↑ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jKoQbBryirQ
31. ↑ Achilles ft.SonicJ - Storja fil-Memorja.
32. ↑ Borg, Coryse (March 14, 2019). Charity event by motorsport enthusiasts.
33. ↑ Another huge charity event by Motorsport enthusiasts on 31st March - The Malta Independent.
34. ↑ https://netnews.com.mt/2019/05/10/nhar-il-had-edizzjoni-ohra-taz-zabbar-autofest-2019/
35. ↑ https://one.com.mt/wirjiet-ta-karozzi-u-sahha-brisq-puttinu/
36. ↑ https://newsbook.com.mt/shows-minn-tony-farrugia-u-mr-cool-nhar-il-hadd/
37. ↑ Mouser, John (September 27, 2019). Get Strong or Die! – S3/Ep10 – Tony Farugla.
38. ↑ WATCH: OMG! This Maltese dude pulled TWO TRUCKS just by using his body strength.
39. ↑ Holy smokes! Local strongman carries these heavy items with his PINKY FINGERS.
40. ↑ https://foreignandeu.gov.mt/en/Government/MLA/Documents/E-Newsletters/Adelaide/NEWS347.pdf
41. ↑ https://newsbook.com.mt/milied-fil-misrah-brisq-puttinu/
42. ↑ https://pwmalta.com/pro-wrestling-in-milied-fil-misrah/
43. ↑ Urpani, David Grech (July 12, 2020). 13 Contestants We Want To See On The Malta's Got Talent Stage.
44. ↑ Local Ironman is TOO STRONG to handle.