Kyle Lafferty video taken during Northern Ireland squad 'bonding session' as Ian Baraclough makes admission
The Kilmarnock striker was axed from the squad, leaving the international camp early following the footage.
Kyle Lafferty's "sectarian" incident occurred while he was out with the Northern Ireland squad for a "team bonding session", it has been revealed.
The Kilmarnock striker made his way home early from international camp after footage emerged of him allegedly using a sectarian slur towards Celtic fans on a night out. The Ayrshire club have now launched an investigation into the video, with Northern Ireland also taking action by sending the frontman home.
However, boss Ian Baraclough previously insisted that Lafferty 's removal was not a "smokescreen" before being questioned about the incident and subsequent action again in a press conference on Monday ahead of his side's final game against Greece. The NI manager, who admitted his disappointment over the row, went on to explain that the whole squad were out together last Tuesday - when the incident occurred - for a bonding session amid their Nations League clashes. During the evening, Lafferty was approached for a picture and the person posing then said "Up the Celts", to which he is alleged to have responded with derogatory sectarian language.
Baraclough said: "We all went out. We all went to the restaurant and we all came back. The players had a day off the next day. They are adults. They know they have got a responsibility and when they are on international duty they are still representing themselves, their clubs, their families and me.
"You can’t keep them couped up in a hotel and you give them a certain amount of trust. You hope that is the right thing to do going forward as well.
"We are talking about a team bonding session and people being themselves and seeing them in their natural state and at times you do have to learn from it. It might be something that we look at further down the line.
"It has always served Northern Irish teams really well when they have had that bit of time to themselves so for me it was something we weren’t expecting to wake up to those sorts of headlines and that type of news. I’m disappointed.
"It wasn’t as we were together at the restaurant. For me there is an enquiry ongoing on that so I suppose I can’t comment too much more on that."
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