Bob Mackin
FIFA showed a Vancouver-based charity’s fundraiser the yellow card.
Spinal Cord Injury B.C. (SCI B.C.) was selling raffle tickets for a draw to see New Zealand meet Egypt in the World Cup on June 21 at B.C. Place Stadium. One chance for $20, three for $50 or seven for $100, to benefit SCI B.C.’s peer programs and information services.
But, on May 19, SCI B.C. told supporters that FIFA sent a cease-and-desist letter for violation of ticketing and intellectual property rules. The contest was cancelled and full refunds promised to anyone who bought a ticket.
Spinal Cord Injury B.C. hoped to raise money with a World Cup ticket raffle. (SCI B.C.)
“We are incredibly disappointed to have to do this, as we know how difficult it has been to get tickets for a match at BC Place,” said the SCI B.C. message. “We apologize for any inconvenience this raffle cancellation may cause but we hope you will continue to support us in any future raffles.”
Approximately 12,000 British Columbians live with a spinal cord injury. SCI B.C. spent $2.87 million last year.
The small print in FIFA’s ticketing agreement says ticketholders shall not use World Cup tickets for promotions, incentive programs, sweepstakes, contests, giveaways or raffles without FIFA’s written permission.
“Any actual or attempted violation… may result in civil and/or criminal penalties,” FIFA says.
You can buy tickets for the final in New Jersey, mark them up to $2.29 million each on the official FIFA resale marketplace website and hope for a windfall profit. (FIFA gets a 15% cut from both buyer and seller). But you’re not allowed to use opening round match tickets to raise money for a charity that helps people with disabilities — unless FIFA agrees in writing.
As for copyrights, the City of Vancouver’s Community Activation Playbook says: “Don’t use FIFA marks or suggest official status unless you are officially licensed. This includes logos, wordmarks, slogans or any branding that implies a formal partnership.”
Using generic soccer imagery and country flags is fair game.
Editor’s note: you may have noticed the absence on recent editions of thePodcast of two regular features, Around the Rim and Cascadia Calling.
News nuggets from the Pacific Rim and the Pacific Northwest are back, in print form. Enjoy!
Conservative Foreign Affairs Critic Michael Chong (left) and Taiwan’s President Lai Ching-te in Taipei. (Lai/X)
Around the Rim
Hong Kong’s chief executive John Lee told journalists to “contribute to national development by telling ‘good stories’ of China and Hong Kong.
“Journalism has great influence and therefore comes with great responsibilities,” Lee said at the Hong Kong News Awards ceremony.
Talk is cheap. As the Hong Kong Free Press pointed out, “Hong Kong has plummeted in international press freedom indices since the onset of the 2020 and 2024 security laws. Watchdogs cite the arrest and jailing of journalists, raids on newsrooms and the closure of around 10 media outlets including Apple Daily, Stand News and Citizen News.”
In Japan’s Kyodo News, a Japanese university study found “Cat feeding habits shaped by smell.”
Researchers at Iwate University in northeastern Japan found the amount cats eat gradually declines with repetition. But their appetite increases when the smell changes, according to the journal Physiology and Behavior.
“The study may also help improve care for older or sick cats with reduced appetites and aid in the development of new pet foods.”
Cascadia Calling
The Oregonian wonders whether Downtown Portland is on the verge of a comeback.
“Portlanders’ view of downtown continues to improve, but its reputation is still under repair,” according to a poll it commissioned.
Almost half of the Portland residents (47%) who responded to the April poll view downtown positively, up from 39% in March 2025 and 28% two years ago
President Lai Ching-te, in Focus Taiwan, says Taiwan will never be ‘sacrificed or traded away’ after Trump remarks.
Point Roberts, Wash. (Mackin)
Lai spoke out after Xi Jinping hosted Donald Trump for a summit in Beijing. Trump threw cold water on Taiwan declaring independence from China.
“Ensuring peace and stability in the Taiwan Strait has long been a broad consensus and shared interest of Taiwan, the United States and all democratic countries around the world,” Lai wrote in a Facebook post.
Meanwhile, Lai met May 20 with visiting Conservative Foreign Affairs critic Michael Chong.
“It is important that democracies speak up and take a stand in the face of intimidation from authoritarian states,” Chong said on X.
To no one’s surprise, the People’s Republic of China has condemned Chong’s visit to the democratic island nation that Xi Jinping has threatened to invade and annex.
Chong and Lai discussed Canada-Taiwan relations, trade and investment, peace and security in the Indo-Pacific and the need for Canadian MPs to continue visits to Taiwan in order to foster bilateral relations.
Pollster DHM found polarization: 93% of Republicans polled had a negative view versus 43% of Democrats and 70% of independents or supporters of “other” parties.
The Seattle Times’ FYI Guy, Gene Balk, took a deep dive into census figures in “Who’s moving to Washington, and who’s leaving?”
From 2020 to 2024, 52% of the adults moving into Washington were male and 51% were women — a net gain of 5,000 men per year and a net loss of 6,000 women.
Seventy percent of arrivals were under 40. Nearly 20% of newcomers were born outside the U.S.
As if Point Roberts doesn’t have enough to worry about with the Trump trade war.
The Cascadia Daily News reports that the “Lummi Nation asks court to halt construction, protect ancestral burial sites on Point Roberts.”
Hundreds of ancestral remains may have been disturbed, so the Lummi Nation wants a federal judge to stop a broadband project. The tribe wants “full site access to recover and rebury ancestral remains.”
“There are 13 recorded archeological sites and more than 3,000 individual archaeological features on Point Roberts, according to Robert Whitlam, Washington state archaeologist,” the Daily News reported.
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