Lim Kim San's grandnephew captains Sunderland football club back to EPL

Luke O'Nien has a rather unique Singaporean connection.

He is the grandnephew of Singapore's first post-independence finance minister, Lim Kim San.

Lim passed away in 2006, after a sterling career in politics. He had a younger brother, named Lim Cheng Siong. He had a daughter named Monica Lim.

Monica married an Englishman, Terry O'Nien, and they had Luke.

Captain

Luke O'Nien is also the captain of English Championship team, Sunderland.

He might soon be an English Premier League team captain, as Sunderland secured promotion after a 2-1 playoff win against Sheffield United.

This means they will be promoted to the Premier League, along with Leeds and Burnley.

Despite a dislocated shoulder that forced O'Nien out of the match in the first few minutes, the Sunderland team clawed back from a 1-0 deficit to book their place in the EPL next season.

And despite the injury, O'Nien was right there with them at the end, his right arm in a sling.

View this post on Instagram

 

A post shared by Luke O'Nien (@lukeonien)

Their talismanic captain shared a bit of his thoughts after the match as well.

NEW: Luke O’Nien says he “wouldn’t swap anything” on a “perfect” afternoon for Sunderland 🔴⚪️🏆

The defender was forced off in the opening minutes because of a dislocated shoulder, but was overjoyed that Sunderland are a Premier League club again 🆙#SAFC pic.twitter.com/usrYfp7CE6

— Daniel Wales (@danielwales023) May 24, 2025

O'Nien had previously expressed interest in representing Singapore.

Image from Sunderland Youtube and O'Nien's Instagram