"We Lead With Purpose".

That's one of the things the Scottish FA pledges as a governing body. It's down in black and white on their website.

With the latest restrictions announced by First Minister Nicola Sturgeon on Tuesday, it is vitally important that they - and the SPFL, as the other half of the joint response group - live up to that assertion. 

In an address not wholly unexpected in the wake of Welsh sport going behind closed doors, Sturgeon confirmed that as part of the fight against the rising Omicron variant (cases are now up to 5,500 a day) there would be a limit on the size of public events that can take place for three weeks from December 26.

For outdoor events, such as football matches, that means a maximum of 500 fans can attend. 

The Scottish Premiership has 18 fixtures scheduled to take place between that date and January 3, when the division is supposed to take a short winter break. The Championship (25), League 1 (20) and League 2 (18) collectively have 63 pencilled in during that span, with no winter break at all.

"Firstly, we know that the much higher transmissibility of Omicron means large gatherings have the potential to become very rapid super-spreader events, putting large numbers at risk of getting infected very quickly," the First Minister said in Holyrood on Tuesday.

"Limiting these events helps reduce the risk of widespread transmission. It also cuts down the transmission risks associated with travel to and from such events. And, secondly, these large events put an additional burden on emergency services, especially the police and ambulance services."

Yes, fine. Most people - even if frustrated and upset about it - will understand the thinking there. 

However, six Scottish Premiership teams including Celtic are in action on Wednesday night (not to mention another six across the other leagues) meaning the likes of Easter Road, McDiarmid Park and St Mirren Park could all theoretically be at thousands-full capacity yet, a few days later, that'll be a no-go.

READ MORE: Football matches in Scotland set for limited crowd due to Covid Omicron spread

Those 5,500 cases per day mentioned in Holyrood are happening now, they’re not scheduled to occur from December 26 or 27. 

I get that no government in any way concerned with optics will want to be seen to be the one 'cancelling Christmas' or 'shutting down the football again' but the whole 'does Covid only get out its bed after 8pm?' crowd will have a field day with the rationale on this one in regards to football. It is, in west-coast parlance, a bit half-arsed.

But the joint response group don't need to let it play out like that. They should be doing whatever they can to ensure as few games as possible take place behind closed doors. 

First off, they can choose to bring the winter break forward to coincide with these three-week restrictions.

This makes sense not only for the benefit of the respective title races (all of which are still races) or for the fans themselves (a majority of whom have already paid for season tickets for games which will take place but that they cannot now go to) but because they already know the impact staging games with few or no fans has had on clubs across the country too.

The big question, I suppose, is how long will these restrictions go on? If the past couple of years has taught us anything, three weeks can become three months very quickly.

If, as some fear, this new unwelcome reality becomes a longer-term thing then, yes, at some point you need to play the games. Of course you do.

But surely the joint response group should be striving to make sure it's an absolute last resort to do so in empty stadiums? The Sky Sports TV guide is not, despite what it might feel like sometimes, the league constitution. 

Keep in mind also that, with no major international tournament scheduled for summer 2022, the calendar for this season is at least theoretically more flexible than it usually would be.

A three-week shift in the fixture list doesn't altogether make much of a difference to the schedule but it could make a massive one to supporters and to the clubs themselves.

Time for the SFA/SPFL to lead with purpose.