To keep hold of footballs until they're collected

OP I feel your pain.

I have become the grinch of football with our neighbours. Not because I am bothered about them playing football or the noise or an odd ball coming over the fence but because they are breaking my property and the amount a ball was coming over was becoming ridiculous (18 times in 20 mins according to my garden camera) they would just come and get it without asking and leave my gate open so my dog could get out.

They battered the ball off the joint fence so much it broke the slats and weakened it so bad it came down with the winds.

Their parents did replace it with me but then never stopped them from kicking it off the fence again. Utter disrespect for our property.

i ended up telling them they couldn’t get the balls back themselves and I would throw them over. Soon put a stop when they had no balls to kick because they were all in my garden and I was at work!

I used to have problems like this but they would also ring my doorbell asking for the balls. I started saying that I would throw them back next time I went out in the garden, which could sometimes mean I had them for a week or two.
it eventually stopped but it could have been because the culprits grew up!

😆 😆 😆

She sounds useless!

Have you tried shouting something like “Who kicked that ball, you’ve just broken my plant pot/hit the dog/hit me, stop kicking the ball into my garden”

Paint them as human faces contorted in agony and put wigs on them and impale them on sticks facing their way.

No idea but if a ball is kicked hard enough over a 6ft fence onto a chihuahua it could cause damage.
Regardless, why can't kids play football at the park, on the greens, at your house. Why does it have to be against your neighbours fence and how do so many balls accidentally get kicked 6ft in the air, that's ridiculous.

Letting little ones and toddlers kick a ball round in their garden is fine as far as I'm concerned and if it comes over I'll happily throw it back. However older kids playing football is something else and they should be down the park. As I told my own boys.
We too were subjected to countless balls coming over last summer, squashing plants and the banging of the ball against our fence. It is really loud and when they whack the ball into the fence it makes you jump. I asked him to move his goal away from our fence. This happened briefly but then back to the fence. Sooo I got fed up. In the evening I threw the balls back into their garden so they hit the back of their house to make the parents aware balls were being thrown back, if they hit a wheely bin all the better. Others went over the back of the fence to a wooded bit. It sorted it, the balls stopped and I haven't heard much football playing this summer. It shouldn't have to get to this point as the parents should have stepped in before. Alas some couldn't give two hoots as long as the kids aren't under their feet.

Can you post links to all the times dogs have been injured and needed vet treatment, as a result of a ball going over a fence? My kids had footballs punctured by dogs in parks over the years (often in parks where dogs are banned), and one dog decided to rip half my son’s arm off once, while he was playing football in a park. But I’ve literally never seen a dog injured by a ball.

My kids footballs never damaged anything. I think a small child would have to be pretty strong to kick a ball over a 6 foot fence with such force that it broke a greenhouse (which OP doesn’t have anyway).

The odd ball now and again isn't a problem, in fact it wasn't a problem when it was more frequent, nor was them coming into the garden and getting them, using the gate, it's the deliberate breaking of the fence and the gobbing off and threatening my dog that's made me conclude that I'll show them and their property as much respect as they show me and mine.

I was easy going and neighbourly about it all until I caught them kicking at the fence to create a path through, asked them not to and got a mouthful. And within a week when yet another one came flying over and the dog got hold of it before I did and she got threatened.

So tough now, and I don't care if you think that's awful, the kids playing and the balls in the garden aren't the issue, the blatant and deliberate damage and threats are.

I would tell the parents that the ball nearly hit the dog and are they willing to pay vets bills and solicitor fees when it inevitably happens or would they rather teach their children some manners?

It's nothing to do with them being boys in my view.

I don't want my greenhouse, windows, pots or plants being damaged.

Surely it's not neighbourly to damage things in your neighbour's garden.

I’m guessing from your attitude that you’re one of these ineffectual parents who allow their little darlings to make life a misery for other people. You’re part of the problem.

i feel your pain i had same problem got a big greenhouse, my dog got hit by ione football that was the final straw,we have a large football pich /park 2 minutes away, they also damaged the plastic outside edge on my garage which is at the rear of my house, when i spoke to the parents words failed me they said i was being unneighbourly,well we havent spoken since thats been 5 months,the kids glare at me i glare back, good news the footballs stopped, a few neighbours spoke to me and thanked me, they were fed up with them hitting their cars on their drives

In general MN hates boys, especially the ones who play football.

Of course it’s annoying, but it’s part of living in a community.

When my kids were babies the boy next door kicked his ball over all the time. I just let him climb over and get it back. He outgrew garden football and the balls stopped coming.

A few years later my kids were football age. They used to kick a ball around in the garden, and maybe every few days in the summer one ball would go next door (other neighbour). I told them to be more careful, but short of banning them playing outside, there was nothing I could do. Their grandad would play with them and sometimes he’d kick a ball over, it’s hard not to. I’d have happily paid for a 20 foot fence, but the maximum permitted is 6 foot. Neighbour made such a fuss - kept the balls, let the dog bite them, lectured my son when he went to get them (he used to put notes through the door apologising profusely) , texted me. It was a massive overreaction.

Now my kids have outgrown garden football so it doesn’t happen any more. Meanwhile neighbours son has become a car enthusiast. He owns about 4 cars, and has friends with cars, and they come round and fill the pavement with their cars. Then stand around for hours, revving the engines and talking about cars. The pavement next to my garden has become a makeshift workshop for him. It’s annoying. But I don’t say anything. It’s life with neighbours.

And I bet your dog barks OP, which I would find annoying.

It sounds like you're a decent neighbour as you've done something to stop balls coming over the fence.

I agree re knifing the ball and if the odd stray ball found its way into my garden, I'd rescue it from my dog, but if someone was constantly kicking balls into my garden and kept doing it after I'd spoken with them, I'd think it was natural consequences for my dog to bite a hole in it.

You'll get people telling you the most important thing is that kids are playing outside and not sat on screens all day. I'm with you though, it's selfish for kids to continue to play with hard footballs when gardens are small and they don't have the ball skills to not kick them over everyday. The fact that you've spoken to them and expressed concern they'll damage your property makes them especially inconsiderate. I'd be more understanding if they agreed to switch to softer balls and showed some basic manners, like popping around with an apology for the inconvenience.

@Tricho

im surprised you didn't say 'parent'

how old are the kids?
do you have a park nearby?

I don't mind small children kicking balls in the garden, but once they're bigger they need to take the ball elsewhere!

your dog might be small, but I bet her teeth aren't any less sharp!!

your friend is being a div! You haven't refused to give them back & they kicked them into your garden! Theft 🤣🤣🤣🤣

To me this is one of those neighbourly things where perception is everything and without directly experiencing it I don't know how bad it really is. Phrases like 'noise travels straight through the house' and 'in the summer hols it's gone crazy'....I could turn up at yours and it be horrendous and I'd agree with you. Or equally find it not that bad and leave thinking you are a real pernickety busy-body who moans at everything!

You seem fairly measured so I'm thinking it's probably the former in your case but I've no advice, I'm afraid.

To be honest I'm biased as my DS plays football outside and the balls bashed the fence and went over on occasion (however we were very conscious of this so we now have an area around the other side of the house set up for him to play...which doesn't back on to anyone). I think the one thing I would add as a different perspective is that it's not always laziness to not collect. If one of DS's balls went over we said he'd have to be patient and wait for the neighbour to see and throw it back...because we didn't think it was fair to put her out by going and knocking.

Suggestions of dogs biting the ball or deliberately knifing them are awful. Not the first time I've seen a similar thread and a good example of seeing a side of people I feel very uncomfortable with on MN.

It’s not stealing because you haven’t dishonestly appropriated them and you don’t intend to keep them. It’s nothing to do with the Police. Your friend is misinformed.

If they come round for it. Ask for a description and give them the one that closest matches it.

KEEP THE OTHER ONES, until they can specifically describe it in detail.
You can point out that it may belong to someone else or it is at lost property at the police station (do they even do this now that Sergeant Dixon has passed away?)