I've been a big fan of rugby ever since I was ordered, by a fraternity brother of a house I was rushing, to meet him one Saturday on a corner of the Penn campus in Philadelphia.

Oh, and wear sneakers and shorts, he said.

He picked me up - on his motorcyle - and took me out to Villanova University where I played my first rugby match.

If you get the ball, run with it, I was told.

If a guy from the other team has the ball, tackle him. And when you're tackled, let go of the ball.

Oh, and no blocking, no forward passing and no pads.

And you can kick the ball any time.

That was the sum total of my instruction for that first match.

I was 19.

After the match all the rugby teams in Philadelphia gathered in their dirty shorts and torn shirts at a bar called Roache & O'Brien's and drank great mugs of beer and sang raunchy rugby songs.

I was hooked.

And I can report, without fanfare, that I've played at least one match every spring and fall season since then. And no one can prove me wrong.

I played for and started teams in Pennsylvania, and over the years played for Boston and Providence teams.

My team of choice at this time is the Rhody Old Cocks, which has a rooster for a mascot. I tell you this because I see there is a new rugby movie out, "Forever Strong."

I was invited to a premier showing, but couldn't make it. You can read about it at rugbymovie.com.

It's billed as "The first American rugby movie," referring probably to the classic English rugby movie, "This Sporting Life," starring a young Richard Harris back when he had the potential to be another Marlon Brando.

The rules of the game have changed a lot over the years - for instance, if you manage to knock out one of your opponent's 15 players, now the team can substitute a new player instead of playing one down like they used to - but it's still a great spectator sport.

High school and college kids play it, women play it and Old Boys play it.

That last is a bit deceiving. Most of the Old Boys are too old to be boys.

In fact, they even have special colored trunks now so that if you're wearing them, you can't be tackled. Just badly manhandled. You have to be over 60 to wear them.

In the old days, they used to say this:

Soccer is a gentlemen's game played by ruffians.

Rugby is a ruffian's game played by gentlemen.

I was watching the Patriots pummel the Broncos the other day, and thought: Pro football is a poor man's game - after all, we all like it - played by millionaires.

Thanks for the papers

"Went camping the end of August in Searsport, Maine, only week it didn't rain in the summer," writes Larry St. Pierre of Attleboro.

"I had a great time camping at the water's edge." Larry brought me 11 newspapers from his trip.

""Went to visit my granddaughter Staff Sgt. Kellie Ann Tyler in Huntsville, Ala.," writes Mike Warenda. "Brought a local paper back for you. Beautiful weather, high 70s. Had a great time."

Thanks for the cuddlers

Thanks to whoever dropped off anonymously six bears for Bears on Board.

The bears, new please, go to Bears On Board, a program of the Attleboro Area Council for Children. They are given to local police officers, firefighters and ambulance crews to give to children in crises.

Our teddy bear total to date is 5,336.

See you next week.

ORESTE P. D'ARCONTE is publisher of The Sun Chronicle. Reach him at 508.236.0394 or at darconte@thesunchronicle.com.