How to use 'if Token is'
You need to replace the token first with it's actual value.  You can do this with token_replace();

I haven't used simplenews yet, but you will need to do something along the lines of:

&lt;?php if (token_replace('[simplenews-category:name]', array('node' =&gt; $node)) == 'fishing'): ?&gt;
 Go fishing   &lt;?php else: ?&gt;
 Go sailing    &lt;?php endif ?&gt;


Once [simplenews-category:name] has been converted, string comparisons should work as intended.

As a note, you will likely need something other than array('node' =&gt; $node) to get this to function.