Play to the Whistle!
I am a referee and the offside rule is probably the most contentious issue I deal with each week and I officiated on over 70 games last season.
As someone mentioned below, some players make the offside decision for themselves and stop with their hands in the air. You must play to the whistle!
The worst cases are when just one of the defenders stops and sticks his hand in the air, making it even worse for the other defenders and easier for the strikers.
The other big problem I have is finding unbiased Linesman. At the level I referee linesmen are usually the substitutes from each of the teams. This makes it doubly difficult for the referee as he has to decide on the offside and if the linesman's decision was unbiased.
Now I just use the linemen as window dressing and make the decisions myself whatever they flag for. Much easier that way.
If you want the offside rule to work for your team you must have only one person making the call to step up and all four arms going up together in a line. An organised back four helps the referee make decisions in thier favour.
Hope that helps.
Kevin McMahon
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