Kyle Lafferty says he blames himself for the “huge” regrets he has about his career, which include faking an injury to avoid playing Northern Ireland games when he was younger.
Lafferty scored 20 goals in 89 caps for Northern Ireland, and his goals helped the country qualify for Euro 2016, but he has not been selected since receiving a 10-match ban for a sectarian comment he made in September 2022.
The 37-year-old, who was playing for Kilmarnock at the time of the incident, was removed from the Northern Ireland squad and subsequently banned for 10 matches by the Scottish Football Association.
Lafferty says that while he does not know if the incident was the reason for his continued absence from the Northern Ireland squad, he accepts that he “took liberties” when receiving call-ups early in his career.
“[I] I didn’t turn up at the times I should have,” Lafferty told BBC Sport NI in a wide-ranging interview.
“Not reaching 100 caps, I blame myself for that, I should be at 100 caps. I wouldn’t change my career for a second, but there are disappointments.
Asked to expand on his regrets, Lafferty said: “Deciding to go on holiday instead of playing for your country sometimes. This was like when I was 21, 22, 23, just knowing that I had done well before, that I had Receive another call, taking liberties like I said.
“Maybe considering an injury where the rest of the team I was on could have had a few days off and taken those days off instead of going to play for your country.”
When asked to confirm that he had faked injury on occasions, he said: “I wasn’t injured, yeah, just things like that. Just silly things that when you look back you think ‘it was so stupid of me’.”
