The tournament was viewed as
an overwhelming success, much more so than in recent years. The change of focus
towards crowd-pleasing skill and speed was the most popular and long-lasting
legacy of the competition, with the game we know and enjoy today being a clear descendent
of the strain employed by the Australians and other nations in ’66. Another
exciting development was the success of smaller nations which continues to this
day. Tiny island nations with next-to-no hope in the decades when massive
powerhouse nations had dominated were now able to rub-shoulders with the
giants, as imagination and ingenuity pushed the boundaries of possibility.

  For the Australians,
this was the highlight of their careers. Most of them continued to play with
varying degrees of success mostly back home with the Thunderers and the
Warriors. Keeper Maxwell went on to coach the Scottish national side to the
Final in 1990 only to be defeated by Canada.

  It was
the captain Idlewind who made the most of the limelight. He retired immediately
following the Final to pursue a career in directorial side of the sport. This
culminated in his infamous appointment as International Director of the ICWQC.
His experiences in the ’66 Finals and before led to his regulation changes
banning wands in stadia. However, after his embarrassing resignation in 1974 he
disappeared from public life altogether.

  The
Hungarian players had little success as the game moved away from their favoured
techniques. Most of them only played a handful of international matches after
the Final defeat, as they struggled to adapt to a swift regime change demanded
by the Hungarian public. Váczi
was the one exception to this rule, later becoming the most capped Hungarian ever,
a record which still stands.

  Cyril Goussé remains the Minister for Magic
in New Caledonia to this day, famously wearing a golden top hat on all public
outings.