Remote AFL teams from across the NT Big Rivers region head to Katherine to compete in Umpires Cup

At 72 years old, veteran umpire Gerry Wood is one of the Northern Territory's longest serving footy umpires – he even has an oval named after him.

But this kind of dedicated, decades-long stretch as an enforcer of the rules is becoming very rare.

Fit as a fiddle, he's long since lost count of the number of games he's umpired – but he reckons it's well past 1,000.

A day adjudicating means hours under the gruelling northern sun and sometimes tolerating abuse – a trend that has seen large numbers of umpires hang up their whistles.

But after almost 60 years of attending games in some of the most remote parts of Australia, Mr Wood says «he's used to it».

«I love the Territory, the heat doesn't worry me, the humidity doesn't worry me, once you're out there concentrating on a game, you've got plenty of water to drink … I enjoy it, it's fun,» he said.

«It keeps you occupied, and from a brain point of view it keeps you alert because you've got to make instant decisions when you're out there.

»I don't want to sit around and do nothing; I feel young and as long as my legs still hold up and I can exercise every morning on my electric trike – I'll keep going.

«I want to stay alive and healthy as long as I can.»

This weekend, players and spectators from some of the country's most isolated towns travelled hundreds of kilometres on dusty outback roads for the carnival in Katherine, located about three hours south of Darwin.

The annual event brings together far-flung Indigenous communities from across a region the size of Germany for the first game of the year.

It marks the start of the Big Rivers Football League, now in it's 35th year, and is a chance for people who may have been isolated for months — cut off by heavy rains and flooding — to