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 faced 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
During 2008/9, Decaln proved himself the hero as Norwich beat
both Stoke City and Everton on penalties with Rudd saving shots
to propell the young Canaries to victory in the FA Youth Cup.
Declan made his first team debut on 26th September 2009, coming
on as substitute in the 1-1 draw at Gillingham following Fraser
Forster's sending-off. He finished the season with 8 appearances
as City won the League One title.
In July 2010, Declan played in goal as part of the England Under-19
team that reached the semi-finals of the European Under-19 championships
in France, before losing 3-1 to Spain.
Declan made 3 appearances during Norwich's 2010-11 season in
which promotion was won to the Premiership
In September 2011, Declan was called up to the England Under-21
squad. He also made his Premiership debut, coming on against Chelsea
at Stamford Bridge after John Ruddy was
sent-off.