playing football in housing estate

Departed

In a housing estate is it illegal for children to play ball on the roadway? Someone told me it is, I am just curious

goz83

Ah leave the kids alone

hardCopy

Who cares?

Cops never said a word to us growing up and we played on the road all day long.

FreudianSlippers

OP has a genuine question. Please refrain from commentary and answer the question.

goz83

To the best of my knowledge, it is not illegal, but some communities will try to prohibit ball games of any sort being played on an estate, or in green areas with flower beds.

If the kids have a local park (within a 5 minute walk), which is safe to use (no syringes, or drunken teens), then they have no excuse if they are able to play unsupervised by an adult.

If the activities are causing damage, or if this is a genuine nuisance to you (ball hitting your window, damaging your flowers/car etc) you have reason to complain to the local committee (if you have one), or to the Gardai if you feel its necessary.

FreudianSlippers

In the UK you face a fine pursuant to Section 161(3) of the Highways Act 1980 - If a person plays at football or any other game on a highway to the annoyance of a user of the highway he is guilty of an offence and liable to a fine not exceeding [level 1 on the standard scale].

What is a highway? Well rather unhelpfully they define it under section 328 thus: “highway” means the whole or a part of a highway other than a ferry or waterway. :rolleyes: thanks!


I don't know of analogous legislation here, perhaps it is contained in the council by-laws?

theAwakening

from memory, i think there is an offence under the dublin police act 1842 for 'playing a game' on a public way...id imagine it's only relevant if it's persistent and causing a nuisance to persons.

Farcear

Good memory! I believe it is also still in force.

Law Reform Commission; (LRC 14 &#8211 wrote: »

15.14
Section 14(17) of the Dublin Police Act 1842 makes it an offence for any person in any thoroughfare or public place to fly any kite or play at any game to the annoyance of the inhabitants or passengers or to make or use any slide upon ice or snow in any street or other thoroughfare, to the common danger of the passengers. Section 28 of the Town Police Clauses Act 1847, section 10(2) of the Summary Jurisdiction (Ireland) Act 1851 and section 72 of the Towns Improvement (Ireland) Act 1854 contain similar provision. These provisions should be replaced by a new offence of playing at any game on a public road which is dangerous or causes substantial inconvenience to a roaduser,21 the fine for which should not exceed £200.

...and from the same report because it's just interesting:

...Section 14(16) of the Dublin Police Act 1842 provides that every person who in any thoroughfare or public place shall wilfully and wantonly disturb any inhabitant by pulling or ringing any door bell or knocking at any door without lawful excuse, or who shall wilfully and unlawfully extinguish the light of any lamp shall be guilty of an offence.

iptba

goz83 wrote: »

If the kids have a local park (within a 5 minute walk), which is safe to use (no syringes, or drunken teens), then they have no excuse if they are able to play unsupervised by an adult.

I'm not sure about "no excuse". I was a quiet kid, from a "good" family, who never caused any trouble. I still remember playing ball on the road in our cul de sac. For example, there was a game called curbs where you throw the ball and try to hit the opposite curb and get it to bounce back (before it hit the road). If there was just two of you, it was a good game.

Sometimes we also played tennis on the road. One couldn't do that on the green with its uneven bounce (and lack of bounce).

So in total, the road allowed one play some games one couldn't on the green. Forcing kids play on the green is like forcing a kid to play one computer game - it can be a bit boring. [I feel even being able to have the various ball games I did outside, might have kept me away from other devilment (and certainly kept me from being sedentary)].

goz83

Ah yes, Kerbs. Was great fun. I'm guilty of playing plenty of games on the road when I was younger, even though we had a park a minutes walk away and tennis courts 5 minutes away, which were all free to use.

My concern nowadays is the safety aspect on many residential roads, especially on Saturday and Sunday, where the gardens are full of cars and so are the road sides. When driving slowly down the road, it's only too easy for a child to run out in front of you. Even at 15kph, it wouldn't be too hard to strike a child running across the road to chase a ball.

I would be less concerned about the nuisance, but it's a tough one to call and kids will get up to devilment either way. One of the kids next door to me is only about 5. I constantly catch him throwing bits of broken toys and stones into the pond in my front garden. Our relationship with his parents is fine and they are always correcting him, but this continues on a weekly basis. I wouldn't mind, but the pond is a good 4 foot deep and is planted, so removing foreign objects is a pain. Just last week, the kid jumped over the wall and landed straight on top of the external filter, causing a little fracture. The mother told me about this. The damage could not be seen until I turned a valve for self cleaning and the fracture opened up, spewing water from the lid. The cost of the part is €64 and the filter has only been in use for a month. I hate to have to give them the bill, but I only hope it helps to keep the kid from damaging my property. The pond and fish are there for all to see, but that doesn't mean it's ok to redecorate it spider-man arms.