The genius who invented instant replays for TV, Tony Verna, has passed away so we thought we’d chart the history of his great idea.
They have become so common place we barely even notice them any more but instant repaly is a wondrous thing. If you are at a game live now the first instinct after a score or incident is to look at the screen for a replay. This Pavlovian response is all down to one man, US TV producer and director Tony Verna.
While working a game between Army and Navy in December 1963, Verna discovered a way to get the tape to replay the exact bit of footage he wanted. Instant replay was born.
Verna passed away over the weekend, aged 81, but his innovation is now a staple of every sports broadcast. Here’s how instant replay has evolved over the year.
The earliest and most famous example in this neck of the woods was the 1966 World Cup final. Skip to 1.28.50 below to see the most famous non goal of all time and the way it was replayed.
By the 1970 edition, things had progressed, and not just thanks to colour TV. As you’ll see with this famous incident involving Pele against Uruguay, slo-mo was now a part of the director’s armoury.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a_QSSafWZB0
By the late 1970s, things hadn’t really progressed that much, as this footage of Mikey Sheehy’s famous goal against Dublin in 1978 shows. It is just a slo-mo replay of the incident we just saw and they still liked to remind the viewers that what they were watching wasn’t live thanks to a large ‘R’ in the top corner.
The replay reminder survived well into the 1980s, from the 1981 FA Cup final between Spurs and Man City…
… to the 1986 World Cup.
Shortly after Mexico 1986, in September of that year, instant replay was first used in the NFL to make a decision in a game between Cleveland and Chicago. The booth review was now, and forever more, part of the game. You can check that out that very first one here.
By late 1980s, the practice of telling us we were watching a replay died out, and then we were introduced to a whole new world of fancy graphics to alert us to the world of instant deja vu.
Italia 90 brought ropey screen wipes, like this example from Ireland’s penalty shoot out with Romania.
Sky considerably upped the standard with their tech and graphics when they got their hands on the Premier League. Check out this video of the classic Liverpool v Manchester United game from 2.00.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MxCx1oDEoZs
From this point on, it became an arms race. More angles, more effects and more ways to show us what the hell had just happened. This led to supporters and the media focussing more and more on mistakes by officials and over the next two decades instant replay would move from a story telling tool to a game deciding tool.
Cricket, tennis, rugby were just three sports that followed the lead of the NFL and they began to make instant replay a part of the game, with countless huge decisions being reviewed. Snooker, football, and even our beloved GAA, eventually bowed to the demand and only last year we had an All Ireland final’s last score being reviewed by instant replay’s 21st Century brother, Hawk Eye.
Now, thanks to digital TV, we can all copy Tony Verna and instantly replay any moment from any game with the push of a button. In fact, so frequent has the use of video become, especially in the NFL and rugby in particular, some are calling for the scope of reviews to be pulled back.
We’re sure Dez Bryant and Dallas fans would agree after this catch was overturned after last week, a catch that took numerous reviews to adjudicate on.
We don’t think the onward march of replays will ever stop. Ever since the stroke of genius struck 51 years ago, the level of progress and reach of replays has been inexorable. Without a doubt it has improved sport, for players and spectators, and especially for those sitting in armchairs.
Thanks Tony Verna, we all owe you one.
