ball games against my wall and window

[Bongani]

Every summer the neighbours kids play football on the 30x100m green at the back of my ground floor flat. They have markers for the goals one of which is across part of my wall. I'll be sitting in my lounge when all of a sudden there's a bang as the football ball hits my window or wall, affecting my emotional and psychological wellbeing. I have constantly appealed to them to play alongside the building and even spoken to the mums about it. Yesterday I had enough, went outside with a small screwdriver and punctured the damn ball.
Today the police came because one of the mums reported me. I freely admitted that I had done it explaining that I was recovering from a serious illness in hospital and that I finally had enough. They were sympathetic and told me to report it to the housing agency and the council, which I have done. If one of the kids involved would you think my action unreasonable?

Before I even reached that part of your post I was going to suggest that you go outside and burst their ball.

Be accommodating OP. Throw the ball back at their parents’ windows.

It's so annoying isn't it. I was sitting with a cuppa in my small garden this week when a basketball came flying over the wall and got me on the head before squashing my new plant. Drives me mad. There is us a park 2mins away

When they leave the ball out overnight I nick it and donate it to the local kids football club. I've taken about 10 balls to date and I mentioned this to the police and they told me that taking anything abandoned in public areas was not theft.

Good for you but how would their parents like having a football forcefully land on their windows and in their garden? No, they wouldn’t like it so perhaps it will spur them on to deal with their children so you have peace.

I think that the police interviewed the kids involved because it's been quiet today

🤞it continues.

in my books you were not unreasonable at all but I wouldn’t allow my child to do anything like this. I feel your pain - at our previous place child used to be out in the garden early in the morning even Sunday playing basketball!!!!

How about getting some of those anti vandalism or anti-pigeon spikes on your wall? That way, youths will learn that their footballs are likely to get impaled. Ugly, but it’ll give you permanent peace.

I feel your pain op, and only because the kids in the garden behind mine kick the football against their neighbours fence so there's not much I can do about it. But the thump, thump , thump from that drives me crazy. They too, live next to a football pitch that they are old enough to go to alone. But if it was against my fence or my windows I'd be round there like a shot. They also seem to have a never ending supply of balls as I've long since stopped throwing back any I find in my garden.

The constant thud of a ball is antisocial. It drives me insane. We’ve got a kid who whacks the ball at fences over the back and to the side of us (not our fence) but the constant noise sets my nerves jangling. The longer days, the lighter evenings can be purgatory.

I used to live in a ground floor flat and it was hell with footballs constantly thudding off my windows.
I'm in a house now with a teenager next door which constantly kicks the ball against the fence and kicks his ball over into my garden at 400 miles an hour.
Roll on bloody Winter

Huge sympathies, OP. For years I was driven mad by this sort of thing. We have a huge park close by, which they chose not to use. I did appeal to the parents but they gave not a toss - the noise wasn’t near their own houses.
They were nearly all German (German school not far away) and it only stopped, more or less, when a neighbour wrote a very strong letter to the head teacher.

There's a football club right near the me. The kids playing there often kick a ball over the fence and into the road. Then the kids in my neighbourhood pick them up, so even though I've confiscated them when left out they have a ready supply of balls