The job of officiating in the National Football League (NFL) can be a stressful one. With every single game televised to millions of fans around the world, every decision made by a referee is open to being put under the microscope.

Despite the high pressure environment, NFL officials have been known to rack up double-digits in terms of their years of service.

By its very nature, the job involves putting aside any personal feelings a referee might have about the players or teams involved in a particular game.

However, a veteran official once felt so strongly about no refereeing games involving one team that he actually requested that the NFL stop assigning him games involving them.

NFL Referee Refused to Referee One Team For Eight Years

Mike Carey, who officiated in the league from 1990-2014, asked that he not be involved in any games involving the Washington Redskins.

Carey made the request due to the team's name being regarded as a racial slur.

The Washington franchise went under the 'Redskins' name from 1933 to 2020 and faced heavy criticism because of it being deemed heavily offensive to Native Americans.

Protests were frequently staged by Native American groups prior to the name change to get the franchise to alter its name and logo, but the organization always insisted it was honoring Native Americans and not discriminating against them.

Carey, though, was never convinced and chose to make a stand himself in his officiating days.

He explained his decision when speaking to the Washington Post following his retirement in 2014, stating: "The league respectfully honored my request not to officiate Washington.

"Human beings take social stances. If you’re respectful of all human beings, you have to decide what you’re going to do and why you’re going to do it," he explained.

"When they were making assignments, I said I’d like to be excluded from those assignments."

Logs of NFL matches showed that Carey did not referee a game involving Washington from the 2006 season onwards.

The former official's stand indicates how individuals involved with the league were long dissatisfied with the name that Washington were adopting.

The NFL clearly had no issue with Carey's request as he would go on make history and be the very first African-American official to referee a Super Bowl. He took charge of the big game between the New York Giants and New England Patriots at Super Bowl XLII in Glendale, Arizona, one of the greatest Super Bowl games of all time.

Washington Did Eventually Make A Change

Pressure began to grow on Washington to ditch the 'Redskins' team title as the years passed, and the franchise had no choice to make the change in 2020.

Following the death of George Floyd, major investors and sponsors heavily placed pressure on Washington to finally change the team name and logo. Companies including Nike, Target, Walmart and Amazon all removed any team merchandise for a brief period.

The franchise that summer that it would temporarily be rebranded as the Washington Football Team, while a permanent name change that would not reference Native Americans would be worked on.

Less than two years later, the team were officially unveiled as the Washington Commanders, accompanied by a new team logo featuring a large 'W', that resembled military connections as well as connections to the city in its finer details.

Names such as Presidents, Armada, Red Hogs, Brigade, RedWolves and Defenders were among those also considered before the franchise settled on being known as the Commanders.