Obviously, there was a direct conflict between the Christian ideal of monogamy and what can only be described as polite aristocratic adultery, which quickly brought the wrath of the Church upon all who participated. Ooooh, the wrath of the church...  The French excelled in this department, whereas in England, a tournament was regarded more as serious training for war. English contests became so savage that the Church of England eventually forbade the Christian burial of those killed in tournaments. "Those who fall in tourneys will go to hell", scolded one monk. Right, and I'll never find a cemetery to sleep in.  As if I'll ever die. Tournaments were generally viewed with disapproval by the Church because they distracted the knights from the crusades, and by the state because of the unwarranted loss of life. Popes preached against them and Kings regarded them with unease, nervous about the potential threat a large gathering of military forces could impose on their politically unstable regions. Both were quite powerless to stop them. The knights' enthusiasm was already too great, and the powers-to-be were forced to extend a grudging tolerance to the new sport.

The Statute of Arms for Tournaments, established in 1292, helped curtail the bloodshed at tournaments. Under this edict all Knights were automatically considered gentlemen, rather like the Congressional edict in the United States that makes all armed forces commissioned personnel "officers and gentlemen". They were required to abide by the ideas of chivalry and fair play, thus reducing the abhorrence of the church considerably.  Nobody really wants to get hurt.

At the end of the twentieth century, when tournaments ceased to be ill-conceived and never carried out West-Side Story style rumbles with no holds barred, they became organized spectacles, subject to accepted conventions and often fought with blunted weapons. The rise of the "PVC pipe with boxing glove" seemed safety-conscious enough, as well as silly to a snicker. To kill a man in a tournament was considered wrong - or, at the very least, unfortunate. And then there's hospital bills, insurance, ambulances, a general besmirching of the good name of Bicycle Jousting...  For killing a bike there was no excuse.  One doesn't hit the steed, thankyou, some things are just WRONG.   The knight's object became one of knocking off their bikes as many opponents as possible, and in the process, breaking as many lances as possible; obviously the more lances a knight broke, the greater must have been the force of his charge and the higher his level of wheelmanship.  Lately, lance construction seems to be impervious enough to breakage that falls are more common, if people aren't being sissies about taking a whallop in the chest.  Besides, we only have so many lances.  As of late, skinny (and too light for some's tastes) bamboo has been suggested for the smashingest of good times.