ALAN BURROWS, the Motherwell general manager, reignited the debate on summer football on a day when the Scottish sporting card was obliterated by atrocious weather conditions. Only six SPFL games went ahead as Storm Desmond delivered torrential rain and strong winds to most of the country, making travelling conditions near impossible in places. Football was not the only sport affected, with Glasgow Warriors’ Pro12 game against Leinster at Scotstoun also postponed.

The conditions and call-offs will likely precipitate the start of the annual conversation about a shift to summer football and Burrows, speaking in a personal capacity, felt there was a compelling arguing to at least give the matter some serious thought. There was an acknowledgement that the capriciousness of the Scottish weather meant there could be no guarantees of sunshine at any point in the year, but Burrows felt it made sense to “play the percentages” and lessen the chances of matches being postponed by playing over the summer rather than in the winter months.

“My own personal view is that if you were starting Scottish football from scratch tomorrow then you would almost certainly choose to play it during what is widely considered to be our best months,” he told Sunday Herald Sport. “Of course the weather in this country is so unpredictable and the summer we had there was among the worst ever. And those who oppose a move to summer football will hold that up as a reason not to make the change.

“But it’s about playing the percentages. You look to play the games in the months when it is least likely to be cold, wet and windy. In Scotland that isn’t a very big window but in my view you bring us in line with the other northern European countries, including the Republic of Ireland, by playing from around March to October or November.

“There are so many positives that would come about from playing through the summer. But just looking at it from a logistics and weather point of view, it makes sense to try to avoid arranging fixtures for the time of year when, usually, the weather is at its worst.

“We’re not trying to pull the wool over people’s eyes and saying that if we move to a summer calendar we’ll all be going to games with our T-shirts and shorts on. We know you don’t get too many days like that. It’s more about trying to avoid weekends like this one when you have virtually the full card wiped out. And for the games that survived, we’re asking people to drive across the country in horrendous conditions to then sit or stand in the wind and rain for 90 minutes. Why not at least look at the alternatives?”

Burrows points to the performances of Iceland, who have qualified for Euro 2016, and Malmo, the Swedish club that knocked out Celtic to reach the Champions League group stage, as indicators that summer football need not be an impediment to success.

“All these nations have been able to cope with playing through June and July,” he added. “In some cases it seems to have helped them prepare better for the start of European qualifiers in the summer because they are already three or four months into their domestic season.”

Only three matches went ahead in the Ladbrokes Premiership yesterday, with one apiece taking place in each of the three senior lower leagues. Morton’s Championship game with Hibernian at Cappielow passed a pitch inspection but was subsequently called off “on the grounds of local safety” with a number of local roads becoming impassable due to flooding.

The match between Hearts and Inverness Caledonian Thistle at Tynecastle was the first to fall, called off following a 7:30am pitch inspection due to “extreme adverse weather conditions”. On this occasion it was the high winds buffeting Edinburgh that led to the postponement, a move that head coach Robbie Neilson agreed with.

“We’re disappointed not to have a game to play,” he said. "But ultimately it was the right decision. Playing conditions would have been less than ideal and the high winds would have turned what should’ve been a great football match into a farce. You have to take into account players, staff and supporters’ safety too.”

The matches between Partick Thistle and Motherwell, and Celtic vs Hamilton Academical were both called off early yesterday morning due to waterlogged pitches. In the Championship Raith Rovers’ game against Rangers at Starks Park passed a first pitch inspection before being called off 90 minutes later, while St Mirren postponed their game with Queen of the South just two hours after reporting their pitch had been in “perfect” condition as the weather took a further turn for the worse.

The William Hill Scottish Cup third round replay between Arbroath and Cowdenbeath was abandoned after 20 minutes due to “extreme weather conditions”.