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I absolutely agree with you!!!! When I officiate I do tend to get annoyed that I have to "remind" team B to go around (or in front of) the ref stand. However, when I coach I get annoyed that my team has to do that!
I really have a hard time justifying the reasoning to my 16's players who have a hard time finding the meanness to kill a spider. All they want to do is make sure that they get their water/sports drink bottles and/or their gear so that they don't lose it. Also, as you said, they now have to walk into Team A's bench area to retrieve said "stuff", so the theory that the protocol limits team interaction while changing sides is rendered moot.
It does serve a purpose if two teams really don't like each other or if there are enough extra players/managers to gather up everything on the bench. But for the vast majority of instances it really is silly.
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