Football in the street

R

roker

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We live in a cul-de-sack of about 10 houses on one side only, I am constantly chasing neighbour’s young kids (6 to 10yr ) from outside of our driveway for playing football. This is not your normal football, they kick it from a few houses away high and it occasionally comes into our garden like a bomb on to our plants and potentially the car.

My wife’s hobby is gardening and she takes a pride of the garden and I don’t see why we should have it destroyed.
A ball glancing off a car can cause multiple scratches, I would think a direct hit is capable of denting a panel.
The neighbours should at this stage know what’s going on and don’t seem to be taking any action
At this stage we are afraid to leave our car in our own drive while we go on holiday.

I am thinking of a) confronting the neighbours direct
b) dropping a letter in the house
c) contacting the Gada (is it their problem?)

Any advice please

Roll on the rainy evenings
 
Before you 'confront' anyone, why don't you call in, have a chat and explain the situation.
 
Sunny said:
Before you 'confront' anyone, why don't you call in, have a chat and explain the situation.
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+1.

I had the same problem a few years ago. Had a word with the parents and they couldn't have been nicer about it.

Now their two sons play ball up the road outside houses that don't seem to mind.
 
Don't go all formal with a letter. They'll probably think you a pompous so and so and encourage their kids to play ball more often down your waym
 
+1.

Some kids damaged a lot of trees and shrubs that the resident's association planted in the common area, because they were using young trees as goal posts. I had to call into the parent's houses about it. The parents were very good about it.
 
roker said:
]The neighbours should at this stage know what’s going on and don’t seem to be taking any action
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Of course they do,nor will they as they are just lousy neighbours,you shouldn't have to be put in the situation whereby you have to knock on their door and ask them to control their kids but it looks like that is what its going to take.

These are they type of people who think nothing of littering or illegal dumping as long as its not in their back yard,be pleasant if possible with them but definitely be firm as these type will take a mile if an inch is offered and view anything placatory as a weakness.

This is a civil matter and calling the Gardai would be akin to using a shotgun to swat a fly.
 
We had (and to an extent still have) the same problem with unbearable noise on top.

I have politely asked the children to move away to no avail. Then on a particularly bad evening, we called the Gardai who were absolutely useless so I would advise against doing that. Our call to the Gardai was followed by a polite letter to one of the parents to which we received two pages of insults and abuse.

From experience, I would say try to talk to the parents and see how that goes. Not all neighbours and not all parents have much consideration for others and in our case, some seem to think that by living in a housing estate you choose to put up with all kinds of unaccceptable behaviour by both adults and kids. I am saying this just so you have realistic expectations of the outcome.

Good luck!
 
Just read down through that old thread. Some of the posters comments are jaw dropping. The "ah sure they're only kids" brigade who raise their eyebrows at people "over-reacting" because their cars are being damaged or don't get any peace and quiet in their own homes is just unbelievable.
 


I agree. It does explain though why some kids behave like that. Their parents obviously cannot see any harm in them bothering the neighbours, damaging their property or invading their space.
 
There's something missing in law here, if neighbours make a noise etc. they can be reported to the garda. I plan to go out with a clip board, explain why they are being moved and take their names, telling them I will contact their parents for expenses when the damage is done.
 
I’m looking at Roker’s complaint from different angles. If what he is saying is true I.e. being mortar-bombed by a football from distance on a continuous basis and damage being caused to plants and maybe to his car, I think there is a case for approaching other neighbours and the parents of the footballers.

However, it might be a case of over-reaction too. Chasing kids away from your driveway is a deserved invitation for trouble. Showing up with a clip-board demanding names and addresses certainly will raise hackles even from neighbours. And then you want compensation for a few wilted plants - recipe for disaster! What better entertainment than by being chased by somebody who will never catch up with you? Add in the clip-board and suddenly you have a control-freak at hand.

I know our children played football on the road. Trying to stop the ball going into peoples’ gardens is like trying to stop the wind from blowing. There must be a happy medium here. The car has not been damaged, but there is the potential for damage. The bottom line is that there is no damage to the car whatsoever. Therefore, I think the OP is over-reacting. There are neighbours and you must live and let live.

Show me boys that never played games on the street and I will show you somebody who will have psychological problems sooner or later. I would much prefer to see people playing outdoor games than looking into a computer screen playing notional games of no value.

Certainly, if anti-social behaviour is at hand, there is a case for contacting the Gardaí. But, if it is a case of just a few plants being damaged, don’t waste their time, take it on the chin and you will get respect.
 
I am not overreacting because I had damage to my car at a previous address, and had a window broken because they decided to hit stones with a stick. I have discovered a broken rear light on my present car in the drive, but to be fair I cannot categorically say it was done in my drive.
As for the plants, a lot of money and time goes into this.
I also think they should be outside getting execise but in the right places
 

Now I know your a crank.
 
Leper said:
Show me boys that never played games on the street and I will show you somebody who will have psychological problems sooner or later.
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Utter codswallop

Leper said:
But, if it is a case of just a few plants being damaged, don’t waste their time, take it on the chin and you will get respect.
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Utterly Bizarre codswallop

Why any one in their right frame of mind would seek to earn the respect of these people by willfully allowing their own property to be destroyed is entering GUBU territory.
 
Thanks for that Knutell plenty of unwanted inspiration for our youth there.However, you are entitled to your views.

If what I am saying is codswallop, how can you explain the elation of our athletes who performed at the paralympics? These people had to endure adversity and pulled themselves into deserved fame and achievement through sport. Most sport is learned in the street and not confined to football fields, running tracks etc. Let's say they confined their "sport" to computer games only - what would have been achieved?

Ask yourself a few more questions like:- Why do community Gardaí recommend involvement in sport for everybody? Why is it that school teachers recommend sport with academic study also?

Sport starts in the road. It has to start somewhere. Soccer, GAA clubs welcome new members, but are hard pressed for adults for coaching etc. Where there is a ball, a road, a field, a track, almost anything normal kids will entertain themselves.

We all have to live and let live within reason - anything else is not normal. We are all different and seek different entertainment gardening, cycling, football, television etc. The problem is not everybody looks at others sporting entertainment in the spirit it deserves.
 
Leper, this thread and the "elation of our athletes" have absolutely nothing to do with each other. Roker biting his lip and allowing kids to damage his private property does not forge a paralympian...although having read the other thread referenced earlier where the OP's wife nearly pinned a kid against a wall in error not expecting to come across one on her property, there may be some unfortunate truth in it.

I agree that we all have to live and let live within reason. However, it is NOT reasonable to have to accept that your car or garden will get damaged just because the local kids may be training for some distant sporting event. None of the kids on our road play any particular sport out on the road other than running around, cycling bikes etc. The majority of them are nice good kids, but their parents have not yet given them any understanding of respect for property or boundaries. As a result, the paint-work of one of our cars was marked before it was even one year old as kids had climbed up on it. Sun-cream is very dificult to get off a car body! The garden that we work hard to maintain was regularly damaged having been cycled on, hedges run through and broken, our annual big display of tulips used get decimated by the kids picking the nice flowers and then leaving them thrown on the road. We get on with the kids and have explained why we don't want them coming into the garden and they now respect that for the most part.

I wouldn't agree with Roker suggesting calling in the Gardaí though. Thats going a bit too far too soon and I wouldn't imagine that theres any malicious intent on the part of the 6-10 year olds. We were lucky enough in that we didn't have to go any further than having a word with the kids. However, a neighbour across the road recently had his car climbed on and now has a scored windscreen and bonnet and is very definitely and rightly involving the kid's parents.

Again, all of that has nothing to do with the future of Irish sport.
 
Kids play, thank God and long may it last. A football is something kids use to play, thank God. We have enough social problems in this country and I bet many are caused by people who never played sport on the street - but that is supposed to be codswallop, isn't it (see a previous post)?

Gardening is a hobby enjoyed by most, even me. Plants die, slugs attack etc. Should we ban slugs? Of course not. It makes gardening all the more challenging and rewarding. Most of us dont expect to find everything working the minute we wake up each morning. Sometimes things dont work and we just get on with it; it is the same with gardening.
 
next they will be allowed to play with a hurley and a sliothar.
Don't forget this is not about a little kick around, this kicking high and coming in like an out of control bomb.
 
roker said:

I also think they should be outside getting execise but in the right places
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And where would that be? Not on the road outside your house, for fear they flatten your tulips with a ball, not on the common area as per the earlier post for fear they use young trees instead of jumpers for goalposts.

Children playing outside can be a total nuisance, but societally it is very important for a host of reasons I shouldnt need to outline. If you cannot cope with children playing outside your house, you really shouldnt live in an estate.

Climbing on cars is not ok. But football, hopscotch, kick the can, red rover, hanging out etc, all ok by me.
 
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