Norwich City's goalkeeper Declan Rudd, from Diss, joined the Academy at the age of 9. He was called up to the England Under-16 squad in August 2006 and then made his debut for the Norwich City Under-18s

In February 2006, he was offered a scholarship with the Canaries to commence in August 2007.Declan made his debut for the England Under-16s in December 2006 playing in a 2-1 win over Scotland that gave England the Victory Shield.

Declan became the first Canary to play at the new Wembley when he played for England Under-16s against Spain on 28th April 2007. Declan came on for the second half and helped preserve a 1-0 win with a save in the very last seconds of the game - all in front of a crowd of more than 28,000. Commenting on the new national stadium, Declan said “It is really unbelievable. To play there for an England team - I just can't find the words to describe it properly. To be the first Norwich player to play there is such an honour and one that I will never forget. I used to watch Norwich every week when I was younger so I was very proud."

Declan was called up in September 2007 to play for the England Under-17s in a four team tournament where England came second, and where Declan played in a 6-1 win over Northern Ireland and a 3-0 win over Italy.

He was then called up to the England's Under-17 squad for their UEFA Qualifying Group in Estonia from 21st to 27th October. He will be contesting the number one jersey with Wesley Fotheringham who was in Korea for the U17 World Cup Finals in the summer. In addition to the hosts, England face Malta and Portugal in the group with two countries going through to the next stage.

Declan returned to the England Under-17 squad following his injury lay-off before Christmas 2007. He joined up with England for the Algarve tournament in Portugal next weekend which serves as a warm-up for the UEFA Championship qualifying matches in March. England face Denmark, France and hosts Portugal between 2nd and 5th February 2008 in the Algarve

Called up to the bench for Norwich's trip to Sheffield Wednesday on 4th May 2008, Declan signed his first professional contract with the Canaries on 10th May 2008