LIKE THEIR FATHERS BEFORE THEM young men today have found a way to hoist a flag in a field of combat. It's called rugby. It's legal. Most times, people don't die. Rugby is a man-maker. Of that I am certain. I saw some of the boys made men by rugby yesterday afternoon at Memorial Hall field in Fairmount Park.

This peacetime Mt. Suribachi moment features current members of the Temple Univerity Rugby Club, in black, contending for a lineout against Temple Old Boys, former players, in red. The Old Boys won a scrappy victory in 90 degree heat that should have favored the fitness of the young. I coached some of these Old Boys 20 years ago at Temple, so that would make them, cough, cough, LIVID even to think you'd ask how old they are.

Now the young boys have been blooded by their elders. Next year, some of these young boys will become old boys, should they choose to risk injury, or worse, embarrassment on a hot June day. Which they will. Did they not volunteer to play rugby in the first place.