The sporting man culture involves men leading hedonistic lifestyles that include keeping mistresses as well excessive eating, drinking, smoking, gambling, and big game hunting. It is applied to a large group of middle- and upper-class men in the mid-19th century, most often in Great Britain and the United States. The definition has little to do with actually playing sports. Edward VII and his companion "Sporting Joe" Aylesford are regarded[according to whom?] as practitioners of the sporting man culture.
