Betty Courtney set to celebrate 100 years of loving sport

With four brothers who played for the Geelong Football Club, including a two-time premiership player, it’s no wonder Betty Courtney loves the Cats.

Betty Courtney will celebrate her 100th birthday on Saturday. Picture: Mark Wilson.

Betty Courtney is a sports tragic and has been for 100 years.

With four brothers who played for the Geelong Football Club, it was hard for her not to be.

Mrs Courtney was born Betty Hovey and she grew up in Moriac and Shepparton before her father’s job with the Victorian railways brought the family back to Geelong.

On Saturday, she will celebrate her 100th birthday.

In her teens, Mrs Courtney started out as a photographer and a colourist.

“I took photos of children and weddings and I did that for many years,” she said.

Betty Courtney was a photographer and colourist for many years.

As photos were taken in black and white, she manually coloured the final pictures.

In April 1950 she married Noel and they celebrated 60 years of marriage, before he passed in 2010.

“We had five daughters and two sons,” Mrs Courtney said.

She now has 15 grandchildren and 18 great-grandchildren.

Mrs Courtney played tennis until she was in her late 60s and is also a self described football and cricket tragic.

She had 10 siblings, three sisters and seven brothers.

Her younger sister, Coral, is the only one of her siblings still alive.

Four of her brothers – Ron, Jim, Bern and Ced Hovey – played for the Cats.

Ron is well known for winning two premierships with Geelong and going on to be club president for a decade and awarded life membership.

“We would always go and watch the boys play sport,” Mrs Courtney said.

She said she also loved playing sport and that, along with keeping busy with her family, was the secret to living for a century.

“I’m feeling pretty good,” she said.

Mrs Courtney enjoys knitting and playing cards, and is affectionately described as a “shark”.

To celebrate the milestone, her family will come together at the Newtown Football Club on Saturday.

Mrs Courtney now resides in an aged care facility in Bannockburn after a fall in 2022 meant she had to move out of her home at the age of 97.

Originally published as Betty Courtney set to celebrate 100 years of loving sport