It's an issue that is likely to be familiar to many living next door to young families or a school.
But repeatedly kicking footballs over a neighbour's fence and into their garden amounts to a nuisance, the High Court has ruled.
While 'occasional' stray balls might be 'annoying', the 'frequent projection' of them onto someone else's property breaches common law, a judge has said.
The ruling came in the case of a wealthy couple who have successfully sued a county council after complaining about footballs landing at a rate of one every other day into their garden from a local school.
Mohamed and Marie-Anne Bakhaty - who live in a £2 million home - said the balls and noise from an all-weather play area meant they could no longer use their swimming pool and were forced to cancel their annual summer party because of the 'nuisance'.
