Interest in men's netball is on the rise in New Zealand, but opportunities are limited at the elite level due to the INF's refusal to sanction international netball for men.

New Zealand men's netball captain Daniel Jefferies has had a gutsful.

Netball's governing body, the International Netball Federation (INF) has made it crystal clear the women's game is their No 1 priority, refusing to sanction men's netball or push for it to become professional.

World sport is witnessing a powerful movement for equal rights and opportunities, but when it comes to netball, men are treated like second-class citizens.

"It really is a slap in the face. It's just unreal," Jefferies says.

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FIONA GOODALL/GETTY IMAGES Life is good for the Black Ferns women's rugby team in 2018 following a historic pay agreement in March.

"I don't really understand how in this day and age it's possible for it to be the way it is and for the INF to have the stance they do on it is just crazy."

Jefferies and New Zealand Men's and Mixed Netball president David Pala'amo both wonder what kind of response there would be if World Rugby held a similar position around women playing their code.

A Women's Rugby World Cup was first staged in 1991 and sanctioned in 1998 - something men's netball is still striving for. In March, a historic agreement was reached between the players' association and New Zealand Rugby (NZR) with 30 of the country's best female 15 a-side players earning between $40,000-$45,000 this year.

"It's that feeling of not being given a chance and feeling like you're being segregated out because of your sex. It seems outrageous in this day and age," Jefferies says.

"It's the fact that everyone is being so open about every other sport, but the INF have just drawn a line in the sand and are just happy to ignore it and put it in a corner and not have anything to do with it."

Wellington-based Jefferies is at the stage where he is weighing up his international future, due to the high costs of being a user-pays sport.

JOHN HAWKINS/STUFF Southland and Christchurch battle in out in the men's netball nationals in Invercargill last year.

Jefferies, 30, who purchased his first home this year, estimates he's spent about $10,000 over the past two years on flights and accommodation for major tournaments. That figure would be even higher if it included travel around New Zealand for trials and training camps.

Captaining his country for the first time against Australia in October's trans-Tasman series in Adelaide was the "proudest moment" of Jefferies' life and wearing the black shirt was the ultimate feeling.

Any financial support would be a bonus for elite male netballers in New Zealand. They weren't asking for much from the INF.

Pala'amo, a longtime coach and umpire, says they just want a fair go and to be treated with respect.

"Probably the first thing is to have some recognition and yep we recognise men play netball and it's the sport they've chosen and that they're athletes.

"They let men umpire international test series, they let men coach international teams, they let them do the score bench, they let them do everything else, but they don't recognise men can play netball."

JOHN HAWKINS/STUFF New Zealand Men's and Mixed Netball president David Pala'amo is disappointed the International Netball Federation (INF) refuse to sanction men's netball.

Men's and mixed netball national organisations are forced to organise their own global tournaments and send out invites. Pala'amo says they don't want a major financial handout, just guidance and empathy.

"The most annoying thing is they don't even want to sit down and open the door and say, 'How can we help you?', 'What can we do for you?'. It's just a flat no. I don't know if that's good enough in this day and age.

"Men's netball just want to be recognised that they've got the skill level and are doing what they've chosen to do."

If the INF sanctioned men's netball, Jefferies says it would be a game-changer and allow them to slowly grow from the ground up.

Most importantly, it would provide greater exposure and help take the sport to a wider audience, something he believes the INF should be advocating rather than dismissing.

"Having that funding wouldn't necessarily make any impact directly for the players at the time, but what it would give is the ability to have a governance structure that can go out and find sponsors and get the back end of the game sorted, which would help lower those costs for players."

The New Zealand men's team have never played prior to a Silver Ferns test, which Jefferies says would be a small, but revolutionary step.

JASON OXENHAM/STUFF Men's netballers in New Zealand are demanding a fair go from the International Netball Federation (INF).

He would love to see a basic men's national league set up, where regional sides could compete before women's domestic premiership matches - similar to what Netball New Zealand (NNZ) created with their second-tier Beko League.

This year, the National Rugby League (NRL) launched a four-team women's premiership, featuring the New Zealand Warriors, contested over seven weeks, which was a starting point and a model NNZ could look to replicate.

Men's netball is one of the few Commonwealth Games sports, where both genders don't compete, crippling any future hope netball has of being included in the Olympics.

Jefferies questioned why the Commonwealth Games Federation (CGF) weren't addressing the matter and promoting equality in sport.

The INF, which is based in Manchester, England, are resolute on their position around male participation in netball.

They continue to welcome the involvement of men in netball in a range of roles, including as governors, administrators, coaches, officials, players, spectators and supporters.

But the INF stress their primary focus at international level will remain "female only" netball.

JOHN HAWKINS/STUFF Southland shooter Sam Dixon, left, has his attempt blocked by Christchurch defender Jamie Brown at the 2017 men's nationals.

"Netball is one of the few team sports to attract girls and women to participate in large numbers contributing to addressing the current global disparity in sports participation, with the resultant benefits on health and wellbeing," the INF state.

"This sets netball apart from many other sports, which are working hard to attract females. This is netball's unique selling point and is something that should be maximised."

The INF acknowledge netball plays a huge function in inspiring women in many developing countries, especially in Africa, and provides them with security and opportunities in heavily male-dominated societies.

Star Malawi shooter Mwai Kumwenda, who grew up the youngest of eight children to a maize, beans, and tomato-growing single mother, and plays professionally with the Melbourne Vixens in Australia's Super Netball, is a perfect ambassador.

Uganda's Peace Proscovia, who will debut in Super Netball with the Sunshine Coast Lightning next year is another shining light.

ALBERT PEREZ/GETTY IMAGES Uganda goal shoot and captain Peace Proscovia has been one of the trail blazers for African netball, a continent the International Netball Federation want to focus on, not the men's game.

Her parents were unemployed and couldn't afford to pay her school fees, but netball helped offer a platform as captain of the national side. She went on to earn a masters degree in marketing at England's ​Loughborough University, while playing in their Super League competition.

"The empowerment of women, including the engagement of women into leadership positions in sport will remain an INF priority, thereby contributing to addressing the existing global inequality in sport," the INF argue.

New Zealand Men's and Mixed Netball have existed for 35 years and are an associate member of NNZ, who they enjoy a positive relationship with.

NNZ provided the teams with clothing and equipment for their trans-Tasman series in Adelaide.

NNZ chief executive Jennie Wyllie was sympathetic of the men's situation and says they're all for developing the sport and fostering player numbers. Gender should be irrelevant.

"From our perspective we want netball to be strong and strong means whoever wants to participate has the opportunity to participate.

"I think the INF hold a different role to Netball New Zealand. In my view, netball in New Zealand is about being inclusive and recognising anyone who wants to play netball should have the opportunity to do so."

JOHN HAWKINS/STUFF The athleticism and skill level in men's netball is easy to see, but they don't receive any recognition from the International Netball Federation (INF).

NNZ's Future Ferns programme is available to both young boys and girls up to the age of 12 and a youth strategy was recently launched to ensure more teenagers are involved and retained in the sport.

The Silver Ferns regularly hold training games against the New Zealand men's team and Wyllie says there was an increasing level of crossover between the men's and women's associations.

"Our umpires would go and participate in the men's nationals. There's lots of support given across both the men's code and the women's code to enable them to be strong."

The INF's argument that only Australia and New Zealand take men's netball seriously and other nations need to be doing more doesn't wash with Jefferies.

A men's tri-series was contested between Asian nations, Singapore, Malaysia and Hong Kong in September- countries where women's netball has a limited presence.

The trans-Tasman series was livestreamed and attracted a Facebook audience of 130,000 viewers over the tournament, which showed interest was there.

If Jefferies was granted a meeting with English-based INF chief executive Clare Briegal there was plenty he'd like to say.

"I'd just pose the question to them, 'If your daughter wanted to play basketball and I said to her, 'No, you can never play professional basketball because you're a female, how would that make you feel?'.

"I understand them having a focus on the women's game. To just block out men's netball completely is the part that really hurts."

Jefferies says it would be a "dream" to one day see a INF-sanctioned World Cup, as virtually every other major men's sport has.

Rather than New Zealand or Australia flicking out invitations, he would be ecstatic to see the INF organise it.

"For it to be an event that everyone is welcome to, that some country in the middle of Africa, who play men's netball, but didn't really think about it can have the opportunity to go to would be amazing and be so good for the profile of the game.

"Not just for the profile of men's netball, but the profile of netball in general."

AT A GLANCE:

Other sports where the sexes differ:

- Rhythmic gymnastics and synchronised swimming are the only Olympic sports where just women compete. There are male rhythmic gymnasts, but not at the Olympics and their numbers are small.

- Women will swim the 1500m freestyle at the 2020 Olympics after not having previously done so. The men's 800m freestyle has also been added after previously being swum only by women.

- In the cycling road race at the 2020 Olympics, men will compete over 234km with a total elevation of 4865 metres. The women's race will cover 137km with a total elevation of 2692m.

- Men play five sets at tennis Grand Slams, but women only compete over three sets.

-Only men do the 50km race walk at the Olympics. Both men and women compete in the 20km race walk. Women do the 100m hurdles, while men race over 110m.

- In diving, men take five dives, but men take six.

- Women compete in four gymnastics apparatus (vault, uneven bars, balance beam and floor), while men have six events (floor, pommel horse, rings, vault, parallel bars and high bar).

- In athletics, the men's decathlon has been contested at every Olympics since 1912, but there is still no place at major championships for the women's event.

- Men only compete in the Finn class in Olympic sailing. Men compete in the Laser category, while women race in the Laser Radial. Men also do the 49er class with women competing in the 49erFX.

- At the Winter Olympics, both sexes do the two-person bobsleigh, but only the men do four-person. In short-track speed skating, only men do the 5000m relay event with the longest women's relay race 3000m. Speed skating events are the same except for the 10,000m race, which is solely for men. Both sexes compete over 5000m, but the 3000m is only for women.

-The Winter Olympic's Nordic combined event (a highly competitive sport combining two different skiing events: ski jumping and cross country skiing) is exclusively for men. The 2018 Pyeongchang Winter Games website says: "Since each athlete must carry out both ski jumping, which requires high technique and audacity, and cross country skiing, which takes great physical strength, it is one of the toughest ski disciplines and offers only men's competition and not one for women."