More than a week after a Dighton-Rehoboth field hockey player demanded the state take action to protect athletes after a male player caused a horrific incident on the field, nothing has been done.

The spineless Massachusetts Interscholastic Athletic Association only put out a toothless statement defending its decision to allow boys to play in girls’ sports after the Dighton-Rehoboth captain sent a long, thoughtful, articulate letter expressing her outrage at the injury of another player.

The severe facial and dental injuries came in a game against Swampscott where a male player took a penalty shot and struck a girl in the face, causing her to scream in agony.

“The shrieks and screams of fear and pain that projected from her after being hit filled the stadium,” Dighton-Rehoboth captain Kelsey Bain wrote. “The looks of horror and shock on the faces of the girls surrounding her were also chilling.”

She went on, “I understand the MIAA is adhering to the Massachusetts Equal Rights Amendment, but continuously using the law as a scapegoat for criticism and issues regarding this topic is unacceptable.”

The MIAA is hiding under state laws to make its case of allowing boys to play field hockey. Under the Equal Rights Amendment in Massachusetts, boys can play on a girl’s team if the school doesn’t offer a male equivalent in that sport.

The MIAA offered only a mealy mouthed statement that looked like it had been written by lawyers. It was far less thoughtful than the piece by Bain.

“We respect and understand the complexity of concerns that exist regarding student safety. However, student safety has not been a successful defense to excluding students of one gender from participating on teams of the opposite gender,” the MIAA statement said.

But the MIAA also is charged with protecting the health and safety of kids who play sports. And that should be the number one concern here.

The MIAA has in the past come under strong criticism for its decisions and the secretive way it handles business.

The MIAA raked in more than $3 million in revenue in 2021, much of it from fees it charges 370 school districts.

Five top MIAA officers make more than $100,000 a year, including former executive director William Gaine, Jr. who made nearly $190,000 in 2021, according to its charity filings with the attorney general’s office.

The MIAA also spent more than $308,000 on lobbyists in 2021, according to its filings.

When the Boston Herald did a series on the MIAA in 2017, a spokesman did not return repeated calls from the newspaper or return emails seeking simple information including how much the organization makes from tournaments.

Since the MIAA gets much of its funding from public schools, this is an issue where state politicians and others should not get off the hook.

What’s the governor’s stand on this? Where’s Charlie Baker, who’s now running the NCAA? The incident where the female athlete was injured happened in Baker’s backyard of Swampscott.

The public appears to be overwhelmingly against allowing boys to participate in female athletics. Boston.com did a survey of readers and nearly 90% said there should be gender restrictions in sports.

“How much longer does the MIAA plan on using girls as statistical data points before they realize that boys do not belong in girls’ sports,” Bain wrote. “Twenty injuries? One hundred? Death?”