All the huffing and puffing by the English Premiership about its protocols regarding the pitch-side assessment of a rugby player who might have been badly concussed (Report, 9 December) amount to a dereliction of duty. Protocols are frankly worthless unless there has been an established baseline recorded on each player in the off-season. Rugby players, footballers, boxers, jockeys, polo players, bikers et al need to have their brain scanned.
When a player comes off or falls off having had a bang on the head, he or she should stay off. He/she should have a second scan and these two records should then be compared. They should also be kept so the player has a continuous record of his/her brain in case in later life he or she develops dementia. It is important that all sporting bodies recognise their duty of care to their players and performers. This lasts even when they have retired.
Derek Wyatt
(Ex rugby international and MP), London
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