TORONTO — An 11-year-old central Ontario boy who refused to play for his softball team because the coach allegedly described him with a racial slur was granted the temporary right Friday to play for another team.

Lawyers Howard Morton and Selwyn Pieters were in Superior Court in Toronto to ask for an injunction against the Ontario Amateur Softball Association for refusing to release the boy, whose name is under a publication ban, in time for a provincial tournament Saturday.

The boy, who is part Mohawk and part black, played with the Stone Mills Stingers house-league team for three seasons between 2002 and 2004, his mother Amy Salter said in a written affidavit prepared for the court.

"I'm really grateful for this," Salter said Friday. "My son will be really ecstatic."

The alleged incident took place in 2003 when the boy, who is from Tamworth, Ont., about 50 kilometres northwest of Kingston, participated in an OASA tournament in Port Perry, north of Oshawa.

During the second game of the tournament, the mother alleges she heard a parent of one of her son's teammates shout over to the opponents' bench, "What do you think, we're all ... niggers?"

The comment could only have referred to the boy, who is the only visible minority on the team, Salter said.

In June, Salter and her son learned that the man who allegedly uttered the comments had been appointed to coach the Stingers, and appealed to the league to release the boy and allow him to join another team, the Kingston Kobras.

After two attempts, the league said no "extenuating circumstances" had been found to support granting such a release under their league bylaw and that none would be forthcoming.

"I believe an 11-year-old boy should not be subjected to this type of racial turmoil which further exacerbates his already disadvantaged position in society," Salter said in her affidavit.

"OASA ought to know and account for this by taking appropriate steps to monitor for and prevent any discriminatory effect."

In her affidavit, the mother said she even resorted to contacting the Mohawk Nation Elders Counsel for help, only to receive another refusal from the league.

After the temporary injunction was granted by Madame Justice Frances Kiteley, Pieters, Morton's co-counsel, said the decision would have a major impact on all sports leagues in the province.

"This was the first decision of its kind for baseball," Pieters said. "It articulates a few points, mainly that you need to give reasons for not releasing a player."

He added the case is "fundamentally important" because it raises the issue of racism in sport.

"Sports teams have a responsibility to deal with racism as it rises and exists," Pieters said.

"One can not dismiss this as only a problem in rural areas. It's a problem in all of society and it has to be dealt with."

The lawyers will be back in court Aug. 10 seeking a permanent injunction.