# Grr! Ball constantly coming into back garden



## remey (14 Feb 2008)

Hi,

Not sure if this is in the right forum or not but here goes:
We live in an end house, our side wall runs alongside an estate road with a large green opposite it. There's a group of about 9 14/15 year olds who insist on playing footie on the road using 2 pillars from our side wall as goal posts. No matter how many times we argue/plead/ask nicely, they will not use the green. Cheeky little so & so's too!!

This means that the football is constantly coming over our wall, sometimes at a fairly decent speed. We have taken great pride in our garden and have spent quite a bit on making rockeries, flower beds and hanging baskets. The ball is continuously breaking flowers etc. and even hit my father on the head once. We attached trellises to the wall and about a foot above it for creeping bushes and some of these have been broken.

They either ring the doorbell, sometimes 5-6 times on a sat or sunday (we're both out mon-fri 8-7 so dont know what goes on then) or hop over the wall to get the ball. Hubby has seriously warned them several times to never come into our garden but it makes no difference.
We've refused to give back the ball (I never thought I'd end up like this) but again, no difference, another one comes in.

I've heard about a tar type product that can be put on the wall, it may put them off hopping over for the ball. 
Has anyone any other suggestions on how we can deal with this??

Might sound a bit drastic but I (almost) dread the thoughts of the long days coming.


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## addob (14 Feb 2008)

Sorry to hear about your situation.

Just a note about the sticky paint that you can put on the top of the wall, we looked at using this in the past as well until someone pointed out that they get this sticky substance all over their hands and then promptly wipe it all over something, sometimes something rather important.

Just a thought.

Best of luck with the situation

ad


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## Carpenter (14 Feb 2008)

This topic (or something along similar lines) has been covered before.  The product you refer to called "anti-intruder paint":
[broken link removed]

If you decide to go down this route you may need to put up a warning sign!  I know of someone who had similar problems with *adults* accessing his property; he bought some cartridges of axle grease from a motor factors (it comes in different colours!)and found this worked to good effect!  But don't expect to be popular with the neighbours if you go down this route.  You shouldn't have to endure trespass but these "solutions" will almost certainly escalate matters, particularly if the children are resident in your estate.


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## truthseeker (14 Feb 2008)

can you put some kind of sharp thorny plant on a trellis so that if they try to come in over the wall they will shred their hands and clothes?


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## Donnachain (14 Feb 2008)

get a lump of car grease you get big tubs of it in the car store for like 5 euro and smother it on  you could always get a dog.


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## dempster (14 Feb 2008)

would you not talk to the childrens parents? This is what i did when i had this problem. I was very calm and said i understood they meant no harm etc....  but told them of the problems this was causing us. It never occured again and the boys came to the house to apologise. Then i felt like a meserable old so and so!


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## ClubMan (14 Feb 2008)

dempster said:


> would you not talk to the childrens parents? This is what i did when i had this problem. I was very calm and said i understood they meant no harm etc....  but told them of the problems this was causing us. It never occured again and the boys came to the house to apologise. Then i felt like a meserable old so and so!


That's a pretty civilised way of dealing with the matter. Well done. I'm sure that it might not work in all circumstances but it's a good place to start. Far from sounding like a miserable old so and so you sound like a perfectly reasonable individual to me.


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## Chris (14 Feb 2008)

I would also suggest talking to the parents before taking any other action. It costs nothing and the problem could be solved within minutes. 
If that doesn't work, try the car grease, that should keep them away, as it is quite messy stuff. Otherwise, consider a dog and train him/her to love to chew footballs ;-)


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## remey (14 Feb 2008)

Thanks for all the replies and advice about products. 
I don't think these teenagers live in the estate. At least I've never seen them go into any of the houses, in the evening they head off out towards the entrance.
At about age 15 they can be intimidating. Last sat I had all the windows open upstairs and down and I kept the 2 balls for a couple of hours but actually went around closing all the windows as I was a little bit nervous. Hubby went over to them when he came back and had words but water of a ducks back.
Maybe we could follow to see where they live but I'm not sure, would that be dodgy?

Would really love a dog - an alsation maybe, but working all week wouldnt be fair.


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## Sue Ellen (14 Feb 2008)

Chris said:


> I would also suggest talking to the parents before taking any other action. It costs nothing and the problem could be solved within minutes.
> If that doesn't work, try the car grease, that should keep them away, as it is quite messy stuff. Otherwise, consider a dog and train him/her to love to chew footballs ;-)



If the chat with the parents doesn't work would recommend having a word with the community garda before the other options.

Would definitely *not* recommend a dog as he/she would be alone Monday to Friday from 8 a.m. to 7 p.m. which would be very unfair and lonely.


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## Paulone (14 Feb 2008)

Talk to the community gard about the damage that this is causing to the garden and people in it.

If you have spent money on buying fences and plants (not cheap I'm sure) which are getting damaged and there have been instances of people being struck by flying balls coming over the fence, then this is a bit more than a ball bouncing into the garden now and again.

I think the key to this is to impress upon the young people themselves that its not acceptable to play soccer in a way that is causing damage to your garden.

I think its the wrong move to involve their parents at this stage or start an over-the-fence slanging match with the young people...  which they may start to enjoy more than their game of soccer. It's common enough for parents to seem a lot less than reasonable when others make complaints about their children.

I know of a situation where petty harrassment by some young people was swiftly dealt with by a community gard who knew the youngsters involved and who let them know that their bit of fun was actually an offence. He told them it could be dealt with in a more serious way if they didn't catch themselves on and that seemed to work very well.

My understanding of it is that the Gards are keen to help before it gets more serious. You don't want to have to deal with deliberate damage, ongoing harassment or unreasonable parents, and the involvement of the Gards in an 'unofficial' capacity will make sure you're doing all you can in the right way.


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## dempster (14 Feb 2008)

I have three boys who are for the most well behaved but are no angles! if i thought that they were annoying people they would be in big trouble and i would appreciate it if the person came to us first rather than the gardi. Some parents including myself really dont know every move their children make. Kids dont always see the upset that their actions cause until they see the upset that it causes their parents


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## Paulone (14 Feb 2008)

Fair play Dempster,
You clearly want your children to act as responsible individuals and are concerned to make sure that they do when you can.

However and all too often, approaches to parents have resulted in verbal abuse and threats. I know of two recent examples where approaches to the parents over the silly issues of kids coming into a garden and over-boisterous play resulted in the complainer being chased up the path followed by a stream of obscenities.

The idea of the community gard or the juvenile liaison officer in this instance would not be to single the kids out, take their names and threaten prosecution, but rather have someone in a uniform come up to the group and tell them that they have to tone their game down or move it - because its ultimately their game, not their parents.

If they're decent enough youngsters they'll get the message and hopefully games of soccer there won't cause more problems.


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## remey (14 Feb 2008)

I actually like that idea. My father is a retired garda so maybe he could 'pull some strings'. Its more than strings pulled I want - ha ha!

I think the fact that I dont know where these boys live and that I'd feel odd and might attract more trouble if I followed them, that a casual chat from a gard might just do the trick. Maybe wishful thinking. 

I've honestly tried reasoning with them and at the start was all nice and neighbourly and no probs. I never thought I'd actually be like this. I was brought up in a similar house with 3 brothers so we were always playing football or squares etc outside but we were always afraid of hitting the ball into a neighbours garden. Not the case now it seems. 

I hate the idea of getting someone into trouble with their parents or worse still the gards but after 2 summers of this (new group of lads this time in fairness) I'm sick of it and as you pointed out Paulone we have spent a bit of money on it and I dont appreciate my father getting a rap on the head.


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## seriams (14 Feb 2008)

I grew up in estate and our house was in similiar position. The side of our two storey house looked out onto large green and like the thread starter the ball kept coming in over the wall.
My parents did the opposite to ye though. They would throw back the ball anytime it came in. It got annoying at times but it was never an option to confront parents or a guard for that matter. Kids are kids. 
If you say no they will come back and retaliate. We all did it! Eventually they got sick of playing on the green and that was years ago. My parents still live in the estate and the younger generation never play ball there now. 
Maybe an option would be to put up for a while and see if they get bored - i'd rather this than confronting parents as the parents will be living there long after the kids - just my opinion.


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## swordshead (14 Feb 2008)

remey said:


> Hi,
> 
> They either ring the doorbell, sometimes 5-6 times on a sat or sunday .


 x 1 month, thats alot of balls they have to buy if you dont give them back! Im sure they dont have the money to be shelling out for ~25 + balls/mth!! Id keep them, say "ball??...nooo sorry havent seen any balls around today"  and see what happens!! Id get pretty conscientious if a)i had to pay for a new ball each time or b)had to go home to the parents and ask them for the money!


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## remey (14 Feb 2008)

Thats a good one alright!!! I used to throw them back over late at night when they're gone but whats the point. I'm kind of afraid they'd scrape the car or do something nasty though. I just got a new car and sooo love it. I'd burst them and the balls if they touched it


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## Sue Ellen (14 Feb 2008)

This topic has been covered a few times before.  You may get some further advice from the .

When we had this problem ourselves in the past I found it best to tread carefully because of the possibility of damage to property also.


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## ophelia (15 Feb 2008)

My house is in an identical orientation to the original poster's.
Boys using my house and wall climbers as a goal. They managed to break the grill that fits over my gas outlet and thats when I let roar at them.  They also hit our cars in the drive quite forcefully with the ball several time. I told them that their parents would have to pay for any broked windscreens ! Then they started using the area as a putting green, picked up several golf balls in the garden. There is a huge green right in front of my house, they can never give me an answer when I tell them that. They stopped knocking for the ball eventually and I stopped throwing it back over the wall to them.  Seems to have stopped now, but God knows what Summer will bring.


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## remey (15 Feb 2008)

A putting green?? Oh my god! Maybe the little brats arent that bad after all....

Last night the ball came rocketing over the wall and hit some ceramic plant pots. We heard it while watching tv in the front room. Husband went out to them and had a 'quiet word' told them they have been warned, they've broken some of our things and there'll be trouble if it happens again. He said they are all smart @rses and said it wasnt them. We kept the ball.
I am afraid of them damaging the cars or some other property so I dont know where to stop but then I dont want to be held ransom by these teens. (Slightly drastic I know...!)

Some interesting points on the other posts. I know kids will be kids but I would be a little bit more tolerant if there was no green And even if they were locas but it seems they're not. maybe the community gard needs to be called.


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## Welfarite (15 Feb 2008)

The more you are seen to react, the more fun these kids will have with you. From what you say, they get a kick (no pun intended) out of annoying you and your family. I think that everytime a ball comes into your garden, go out calmly with a knife in your hand and puncture it. do not engage them in any conversation. walk back into the house and wait for the next episode and do the same This will a) get them fairly fed up by having to fork out for 20 footballs a month b) send a message that you are a bit of a psycho and c) make the green a more attractive place to play football.


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## Caveat (15 Feb 2008)

Good one Welfarite.  Generally, it's good to be diplomatic and flexible in disputes but when dealing with little gurriers it's fatal to show any compassion or "weakness".

They'll very soon get fed up.


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## Sylvester3 (15 Feb 2008)

My dad is pretty good in this regard - he always maintained a good relationship with the kids on the estate where I grew up. He used to chat to them when he saw them, taking an interest in what they were up to. He seems to have been fantastic at understanding their psychology - when older kids were bullying me as a child, he went to the leader and treated him as an adult, asking him to keep an eye out for me as a favour to him. And he did! 

I don't know if this helps anyone, but my dad still advises that you talk sensibly to children, be friendly and chat to them even when there are no problems and explain the situation when there is a problem. He tells me that the kids have kept an eye on his property in the past because of this.


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## zag (15 Feb 2008)

My suggestion would be to hide the ball every time it comes over the wall for a while.  When they peer over the wall or come to the door tell them you'll have a look and throw it out when you find it.  Pretend to be earnest about it.

Then make a cup of tea, sit down, read the paper.

After a while (15 or 30 minutes) throw it back over the wall.

Next time it comes over the wall, repeat, but make it 20-40 minutes.  Keep the waiting period long enough to cause them to get bored with the wait, but not long enough that they think it will never come back.  Every so often make it a really long wait, but do make sure to give it back.

Eventually it will dawn on them that it's not worth the wait.  They know they will get their ball back, but they will probably think of something else to do while waiting.  Most importantly, they will be less likely to think of you as the person who put the grease on the wall, punctured their ball, refused to give it back, etc . . . instead you will be the person who *does* give the ball back after looking for it.  I think that is most likely to generate the circumstances where they simply move on to some other field, or start playing indoors, doing something else other than putting balls over your walls.

z


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## liaconn (15 Feb 2008)

Given the description of these guys, I think they'd just jump over the wall, trample over the flower beds and retrieve the ball themselves.


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## remey (15 Feb 2008)

I think you could be right there Liaconn. Aahhh I give up. I'm in a great Friday afternoon mood - all is good!! Hitting the town tonight so I'm sure I'll have a completely different outlook again in the morning when the head hurts!!! My head pounding & the ball pounding off the new plant plots....Ha ha


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## jazzhead (16 Feb 2008)

call the gardai,sounds to me like you have been tolerant enough


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## liaconn (16 Feb 2008)

You might want to think carefully before calling the guards. Where my parents live there's a crowd of teenage brats who go around annoying people. Complaints to guards result in eggs being thrown at your house, kids peeing in your doorway and silent phone calls. One man even had his car set on fire. The guards seem to be unable to do very much, particularly in cases where the parents go into denial and insist 'their' child definitely isn't involved in any of this carry on.


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## ydontu (23 Feb 2008)

dempster said:


> would you not talk to the childrens parents? This is what i did when i had this problem. I was very calm and said i understood they meant no harm etc.... but told them of the problems this was causing us. It never occured again and the boys came to the house to apologise. Then i felt like a meserable old so and so!


 
well said - I know I was one of "those boys" when i was young and if you put up barbed wire or grease paint or even burst the ball we would then target your house! That is obviously best avoided


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## mercman (23 Feb 2008)

All posts are very good - got to a point etc. However did anyone ever consider what would their thoughts be if when one of the young lads when climbing over the wall, fell and hit his head off the ground and killed himself. Or what about it you start puncturing the balls, the balls keep hitting the windows and smashing them, or the lads just wait until the house is empty and tell some other lads about the free house they want to wreck. They are only young fellows playing football. What would you do if they were having drinking sessions and throwing their cans over the wall or used syringes or just throwing slurry over. Talk to them in a normal human manner and they just might show some consideration.


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## Pixied (24 Feb 2008)

Hi there

Really sympathise with you this is a tough situation.

Is there a neighbourhood committee? Can goal posts be bought for the green for the benefit of the community ( and obviously you!)? I know this may be a little costly or perhaps time comsuming to start with but it might be worth a shot and get the community in on your plight too.

Talk to the community garda about this too- they may know how to get or raise funding for something like this. Also if the community garda is worth their salt they will defo have a word with them.

Good Luck!


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## dodo (24 Feb 2008)

The paint  you talk of will not stop them only  annoy them, a ball cost's very little these days so I could see you with 20 plus balls in your garden during the summer.I  would  talk to the ring leader,there is always one and explain the situation to him.If this does not help then you should speak to  their parents who might not know of your plight.Give the parent's a chance they might surprise you.If still no good then time to call the Garda.


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## remey (25 Feb 2008)

Thanks for the replies and variety of suggestions. Amazingly we have not heard from them since my original post. Someone has been parking a car there - not us and the lads will know it isnt us either as they would know our cars. 

I think we'll grin & bear it when they do come back. As many of you suggested, by causing a fuss we are only attracting them even more. My husband would have been the same when he was younger and in fairness he has a great rapport with the kids on the road. He initially attempted to speak reasonably to them and we would answer the door and kick the ball out no problem - until it got to a ridiculous level!
Sure we'll see.....


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