To keep hold of footballs until they're collected

[Tricho]

Ndn has children that enjoy a kicksbout against our shared fence - I've raised this many times as the noise travels right through my house and tbh renders sitting out there impossible- tbh I find this utterly selfish because we'd all like to enjoy our gardens on nice days!

Have not got much back by way of support and now we're in the summer hols it's gone crazy.

I have had 8 balls (big heavy cased type) kicked over in the past week inckuding 5 in one day- with the latest arriving just now after hours of incessant kicking.

My garden is miniscule due to an extension (about a third of the size of hers) and there are things in it that absolutely will ger broken one day by these balls (garden furniture, bbq, lights etc) not to mention myself if I'm out there

I've previously thrown them back but I've absolutely had it now and have been storing them in my shed awaiting collection

Thought process being
A) if they have to repeatedly come and collect they'll get sick of it and kick the ball elsewhere (god forbid maybe even the other way towards their own house)
B) will give me a chance to converse again about how disruptive it is and the risk to my property
C) it gives me a bit of peace!

As yet no ones come to collect - I have every intention of giving back on collection but tbh I'm done with their selfishness and disregard for my peace and property

Yeah I'd be in no rush to throw them back over, just when I got round to it.

YANBU. If you put the inconvenience of having to come and collect them onto their shoulders maybe it will stop.

I don't intend to at all tbh! I wouldn't have thought much of it but a friend mentioned it could be xlassed as stealing ???

But you don't know for sure which neighbour they've come from, do you? So you can't return them, can you?

We’ve had problems with a pair of over enthusiastic teens and don’t return anything anymore . Once they lose a few they tend to start kicking the other way !

That would drive me insane.
I think you are exercising great patience.
I'd be stabbing the balls.

I would do exactly as you are. And if it didn’t change their behaviour, my next step would be:

‘What balls?! No balls here… <perplexed shrug>

Do you or any of your friends/family have a dog who might excitedly pop a football that had suddenly appeared in front of it? That could pop in for a visit or two.

My mum's German shepherd puts a tooth through them in about 30 seconds and my kids have learnt not to play football when he's around.

I do have a dog but she's probably the same size as these balls 🤣🤣🤣 it did cross my mind to do that but I don't think people would conceivably believe it was her!

She does go utterly berserk when they come over though which is another reason I hate it!

It seems to have stopped with this latest one coming over - still no collection!

That noise is totally inconsiderate, apart from the damage it causes to the fence the noise goes straight through you.
There are kids who do it near us, a lovely (otherwise) quiet evening completely ruined by their incessant noise. What makes it worse is that there is a lovely park just 1-minute walk away but they refuse to use it.

Totally agree about not throwing them back, just wait until they knock.
If they ever shout across the fence asking for a ball I would act deaf.
If they actually see you across the fence, I would give them just one back.

So refreshed that I'm not just being a harridan! Noise doesn't generally bother me at all I view it as the part and parcel of terraced living - but this is just a bit too much

What's stopping you from kicking them into another neighbours garden (apart from not being a selfish neighbour like them)?
So when they come round tell them they've gone over someone else's fence now as you followed their lead and decided to act like them 🤷🏼‍♀️ They then can travel round all the neighbours trying to locate them.

Let the balls down. Not burst but let down. When they get sick of pumping them up it becomes a them problem.. Then they will stop coming into your garden. Ime..

Or when they come round tell them you’ll return the balls to the parents, show them your tiny garden & explain that of course you’ll be charging them for anything that gets broken. Including vet fees if it’s your dog.

I'm half convinced no ones collected them because their mum likes the quiet it brings as much as a I do - when I first mentioned the noise she said "I know they've got my garden and plants wrecked too but what can we do?"
Helpful.

I got so fed up of it that I told the children the balls had bounced into mine and over my other fence in to another neighbours. Another time that my dog had eaten it. And once I just bounced it in to my black bin and never to be seen again.
I got so fed up of years of throwing them back. No apologies from the parents.
Yes I know I was man and now I do chuck them back but after a day or two.

Is it the noise or the amount of balls coming over that's the main issue?

This has been my solution to the constant balls against the fence and in my garden, I first used to rescue and throw back, then I used to rescue, put out of reach of the dog and they'd come into the garden and collect.
Now they stay where they are and if the dog gets them, tough shit. They feel quite at liberty to climb my fence and break it so it's not my problem if the dog gets the ball.

Some nettles have 'grown' where they were breaking the fence to get in, which solved that problem and I've always been fair and said they can come and get them if they come over, but after being told to fuck off when asking them to use the gate instead of coming over the fence and breaking it, and them threatening to 'kick the dog in the head' if she damaged the ball she caught as it came flying over, I'm done. Gate gets locked and the dog gets the ball.

My garden doesn't border anyone else's either, they are using my neighbours access to their yard as a goal area and playing in the street - they live across the road and have front and back gardens and there's a field at the top of the road with lines and goals.

Haven't had any for a while.

Oh I certainly plan to! I didn't have much in my garden last Sumner but I've gone on a bit of a reno with it so I'm precious about it now!

and can't you tell the summer holidays are here... all these posts about kids making a noise in their back garden really make me sick.

kids are kids and we were all one once.. why don't you act like a fully grown adult and instead and being petty and hanging on to the balls or letting them down or doing whatever else has been suggested why don't you have an actual conversation with the parents?

Never kicked a ball against a fence or into someone else's garden in my life and even if I had, my mum would have been the first person to tell me to stop being so inconsiderate!😘

Our neighbours play cricket with proper cricket balls in our small urban gardens. I now don’t return any balls and they haven’t asked for them so I’ve just binned the ones I’ve been holding for the past six months. They know I don’t like it as I shout out when a ball comes over and we’re in the garden.

Both really. I think it's selfish to kick it at the fence and I don't see why they can't also keep it in their own garden

Oh! My initial reaction to your title was ‘ah that’s nice of you!’ as I read it as the alternative would be to get rid of them. I don’t think keeping hold of them is
vindictive or anything. My kids go next door to collect balls all the time. Our neighbours are normal nice people :)

I agree! Like I said previously noise doesn't bother me. In fact I love to hear kids playing.

But a football against a fence is anti social, my own mother personally drew a line at anything I did in our garden that could spoil neighbours enjoying their own - including this.

Also cased footballs potentially causing damage isn't just kids being kids, it's selfish and inconsiderate, as I suspect you are in your day to day life