Chia Boon Leong (, 1 January 1925 – 20 December 2022) was a Singaporean

footballer A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugby ...

who competed for China in the 1948 Summer Olympics and for

Singapore at the 1954 Asian Games Singapore participated in the 1954 Asian Games held in the capital city of Manila, Philippines The Philippines (; fil, Pilipinas, links=no), officially the Republic of the Philippines ( fil, Republika ng Pilipinas, links=no), * bik, Repu ...

. He was known as "twinkletoes" in the football scene. Chia was born on 1 January 1925 to philanthropist Chia Yew Siang. He grew up in Pasir Panjang, Singapore. Chia attended Pasir Panjang English School and

Raffles Institution Raffles Institution (RI) is an independent educational institution in Singapore. Founded in 1823, it is the oldest school in the country. It provides secondary education for boys only from Year 1 to Year 4, and pre-university education for both ...

. Chia was a founding member of the

Pasir Panjang Rovers Pasil ( fa, پسيل, also Romanized as Pasīl; also known as Pasīr) is a village in Sepiddasht Rural District, Papi District, Khorramabad County, Lorestan Province, Iran. At the 2006 census, its population was 469, in 92 families. Referen ...

. During

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...

and the

Japanese occupation of Singapore , officially , was the name for Singapore when it was occupied and ruled by the Empire of Japan, following the fall and surrender of British military forces on 15 February 1942 during World War II. Japanese military forces occupied it af ...

, Chia studied at a Japanese school in Queen Street in late 1942. In mid-1943, Chia worked in a telegraphy company, where his work consists of sending and receiving messages in morse code. Every day after work, he would go to

Jalan Besar Stadium Jalan Besar Stadium, officially the Jalan Besar ActiveSG Stadium, is a football stadium located in Kallang, Singapore. The stadium is part of the Jalan Besar Sports and Recreation Centre, a community sports facility that includes the stadium as ...

to play football for the Pasir Panjang Rovers. Chia was also part of a Syonan team that travelled to

Malaya Malaya refers to a number of historical and current political entities related to what is currently Peninsular Malaysia in Southeast Asia: Political entities * British Malaya (1826–1957), a loose collection of the British colony of the Straits ...

to play against the state teams. Chia died on 20 December 2022, at the age of 97.

References

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* 1925 births 2022 deaths Chinese men's footballers Singaporean men's footballers China men's international footballers Singapore men's international footballers Dual men's international footballers Olympic footballers for China Footballers at the 1948 Summer Olympics Footballers at the 1954 Asian Games Men's association football forwards Singaporean sportspeople of Chinese descent {{Singapore-footy-bio-stub