THERE IS a dangerous air of self congratulation around which verges on euphoria. It concerns the perceived success to date of the National Hurling League, a perception which, to the mind of this observer, is misplaced.

The fact is the mild balmy weather has contributed to the undoubted rise in attendances. Fewer players have opted out of the National League for "a rest" and the pitches have been firmer and, therefore, better suited to hurling than they might have been in November or December.

Let us look at the attendances first. One or two matches, such as that between Limerick and Clare, have attracted big crowds and people have interpreted this as an overall trend. Yet at Portlaoise last Sunday the attendance for the visit of Wexford, the All Ireland champions, was very disappointing and somewhere short of 4,000 people.

Nor are the pitches perfect. Although firm and dry the pitch at O'Moore Park was not a good hurling pitch. The dry weather had made it bone hard and the lack of growth had left the grass much shorter than would have been ideal.

But there is an even more insidious aspect which this column would like to address. Despite the widespread concern about the state of hurling, as outlined a couple of years ago at Congress by Nicky Brennan, there is still a fair amount of complacency about the game and its future which is unhealthy.

Few will cavil with the belief that hurling is the best, most skilful and most exciting team game in the world. Yet far too much emphasis is put on one knockout competition which, for the greater part, is confined to about 10 counties.

It is now 36 years since a Dublin team appeared in the All Ireland final and I was born in the year that Dublin last won the McCarthy Cup - work it out for yourself.

The victories of Clare and Wexford in 1995 and 96 and before then the resurgence of Galway and the rise of Offaly have given us all great heart. What we need now is for a very fine Limerick team to win the All Ireland this year closely followed by victories for Antrim, Dublin and Waterford.

That scenario might give us cause for complacency, but we are a long way away from that situation.

It seems to me that far too many team managers dismiss the National League. As someone who speaks to team managers after matches, I detect the complacency going too far.

"We are team building at the moment. We are trying out a few of the younger players. Some of the first team squad are taking a rest," we are told, far too often for my liking.

You will hear managers off teams who have never won a provincial title and have little hope of winning their first match suggest, without even the hint of a smile on their faces, that they are "concentrating on the championship this year".

Many county boards concentrate too much on football at the expense of hurling and many boards hive off hurling to a hurling board and then carry on without feeling either responsibility for or interest in hurling. There is a them and us attitude and that is not healthy.

Croke Park should penalise counties which do not take the National Football or Hurling Leagues seriously.

The distribution of funds to counties after the National Leagues are over is done in an even handed way in the belief that all counties take an evenhanded approach.

If the GAA were to institute a system which would punish the slackers or reward those who make the effort things might change.

Any hurling or football team manager who dared to speak of concentrating on the championship this year should be charged with bringing the game into disrepute.

There would certainly be a very good reason for any sponsor now or in the future reducing its subvention by £10,000 every time a team manager or county board official made such a crass remark.

Nobody can complain about the fact that the public perception places the National Leagues in both codes as secondary to the All Ireland championship. Nothing is going to change that. But it remains the duty of those same county boards to place the correct emphasis on the leagues.

Any hi at of a lack of interest by those most crucially involved in the game could drive away current sponsors and even potential ones.

This column looks forward to the day when some manager will say "This year we are going all out to win the National League. From the very first puck or kick of the ball we will have that goal in mind.

"If we can do that then we will know that we can also win the championship, but that is down the road some way. The National League is our priority for the moment."

Whenever I hear a team manager or county board chairman say that Twill know that the games are safe for the future, but not until then.