Tony Verna, a television director and producer who invented instant replay for live sports games 51 years ago, has died at his home in Palm Desert, California, the US.

His daughter Tracy Soiseth said her 81-year-old father had been battling acute lymphoblastic leukaemia.

Verna introduced the concept of instant replay during the US Army-Navy football game on December 7, 1963, after developing a method to cue the tape to pinpoint the play he wanted to immediately air again.

Instant replay quickly became a staple of sports events, but the concept was so new that the game’s announcer had to warn viewers that the play was not live and that the army had not scored again.

Verna also worked on other high-profile TV broadcasts, including the Olympics and the Live Aid fund raiser in 1985.

Sign up to our free newsletters

Get the best updates straight to your inbox:
Please select at least one mailing list.

You can unsubscribe at any time by clicking the link in the footer of our emails. We use Mailchimp as our marketing platform. By subscribing, you acknowledge that your information will be transferred to Mailchimp for processing.